SIXDOTS by Stefano Virgilli

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Print industry

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W THE TEAM Name Occupation role contact Name Occupation role contact Name Occupation role contact Copyright information - CREDITS

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elcome to our very first issue of 6 Dots and what a ride it has been! It is absolutely nerve wracking and exciting at the same to see the final copy ready to go out. I remember getting on this project as an intern with very minimal knowledge on the topics that the magazine is all about. But I have picked up so much through the research, interviews and hours of discussions with some really awesome people; which is what I would like to give to anyone who picks up 6 Dots. It is intended to be your handbook to all things relating to visual media with a focus on 6 fields (hence the name!) that we, at Vox Lab, specialise in. This issue is packed with comprehensive tutorials to product reviews to little nuggets of useful advice from the experts. We have ensured that we cover enough ground to inform, not overwhelm, you. Even someone who simply picks 6 Dots for ‘the heck of it’ will find something that will pique their interests without worrying about not being able to understand. Every issue, we will select some of the best artists from different fields showcasing their work in the Artist Spotlight. Or perhaps you may be interested in knowing how to use Photoshop to get that wicked Star Trek feel into your own project under our Tutorials. Our Product Reviews try not to harp on products that you have heard about but on nifty devices that may be the perfect fit to your lifestyle. One of my personal favourites in this issue is ‘Make Your Words Talk’ which focuses on the power of fonts. It is interesting how how a curve in the lines or a different way of dotting the ‘i’s can add meaning to the message you are sending out. Do note the way the layout in this feature exemplifies what each sentence is trying to say; Thank you Steve! So it is with this intent, of making visual design accessible to everyone, that we have selected what goes in. We would love to hear what you think about our first issue; feedback, suggestions, complaints and even your submissions which will have a chance to be featured in the next issue. Till then,

Stay Creative

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expertise

6 KILLER TIPS

It’s probably not about how fast you can click, it’s about how well you know about Photoshop, how you gonna unlock its full potential to boost your productivity.

Undo, give me more undo please !

I totally believe that we designer are very addictive to undo something, even until when we made a mistake on sketching, we tend to ‘undo’ it. Well as you might know by pressing Ctrl + Z in Photoshop you can undo the previous action you made, but when you press the same key combination again, it will redo the previous action. This is quite unnatural and

troublesome as you always need to undo multiple times to get to the state you want. Believe it or not, Photoshop has a specific button for multiple undo, and it is Alt + Ctrl + Z. Yes, by using this key combination you can undo multiple times, according to the value of History States you set in Edit > Preference > Performance. If you’re used to common Undo’s key combination which is Ctrl + Z, you can simply press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + K to access Keyboard Shortcut panel and change Undo’s key combination under the Edit section to Ctrl + Z..

Sampling Color

you can actually just click on Eyedropper tool or pressing I to activate it, then click on the Photoshop’s work screen and drag the Eyedropper icon to anywhere on the monitor screen to get the color you want. Yeah, it’s really that easy.

Tracking anytime

Alright, let’s say I want to decrease the tracking of the type, ’360′ so my logo’s type looks unique that visitor remembers it easier. I can select ‘POLO360′ by using Type tool which can be activated by pressing T key, then hold down the Alt and press < button to start decreasing the type’s tracking, which will bring the result above.

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Element Centering Made Easy

In fact you have a way to make this entire process a lot more easier, click on the element’s layer which you want to absolute center, then press Ctrl + A to select the entire document. After that, fire the Move tool and you will see some icons beside the option, Show Transform Controls. Click on the 2nd icon to vertical center the element, then click on 5th icon to horizontal center the element, there you go, an absolute centered element.

Instant Layer Selection = Win

Activate the Move tool using V key and hold down the Ctrl key, then click on the element and you will automatically select the element’s layer. It’s really that simple but keep in mind that if you put elements into a group, then by using the same trick you will be selecting the group’s folder that contains the element you clicked, as shown above.

Fun Layer Style Cloning

Have you ever realized that there’s an fx icon beside your layer? Well everything exists for a reason, if you press Alt and drag the fx icon to another layer, it will copy first layer’s styles to the one you dragged to, convenient isn’t it?

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Maciej Hajnrich Interview great sense of free flowing composition

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FEATURED ARTIST

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Valp Nietylko, is a designer who embraces the merging of chaos and color. He has a great sense of free-flowing composition. 12

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Please introduce yourself, give us a brief bio, tell us where you’re from, and how you got started in the field. Hello! I’m a 26-year-old graphic designer residing in Poland. I’m focused on print and digital design. I focus on illustration, CD covers, posters, and Web design. I also take a part in corporate identity projects. I’m a self-taught designer. This shouldn’t be surprising for readers because if you’re visiting Psdtuts+, you want to learn more than a school can offer. Anyway, my passion in graphics

started very naturally. Playing with Photoshop was something obvious for a boy who fell in love with computers, technology, and stuff like that. I could say “I was drawing since I was a child,” but who hasn’t been? This was my hobby for several years. It became a big fascination and finally a profession. Meanwhile, for about three to four years I was an editor for several online and offline magazines. I wrote PC Console reviews, for example.

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How would you describe your work, your style—your approach to design and illustration? This is a very good question, you know! In practice, you have to ask yourself what are you going to do in a year or in ten years. Well, I always want to learn new things, techniques, reach new goals. I was never thinking of my style, you know. I didn’t want a style that is recognizable at first view. Looking back through my portfolio I see that I’ve had “periods” where I used a concrete technique. However, I always

want to make comprehensive art, more or less abstract, always with the best typography and color choices. So this is my main goal—detailed, emotional illustrations. If you ask about style, I want to gain skills in a natural and spontaneous way.

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BEHIND THE SCENE

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aererio. Ga. At voluptamus aliqui nonet magnime debis sed ut mavenimol uptatur, ad et aut lam, untios que coria simendel endelit et, sant pra quis nis dolum hit, sae commolorem.ptatem quat et ipis exerchilique volo beritiscia que net officil loriate mporia volorum nonsequ amuih itatqui blaturperumque lab incid quam, sunt voloruntiae omnihil imus asperianda blaccus daeprest idus dempos volo\eliqui rerferc hiliq.

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DESCRIPTION In libero eros, consectetur sed euismod a, fringilla non libero. Mauris convallis facilisis magna, eleifend molestie ipsum imperdiet id. Donec gravida justo at risus hendrerit in feugiat sapien tincidunt. Duis quis mi dolor.

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MASTERCLASS

Behind the scene

TIPS TO CREATE A SURREAL SCENE FROM PHOTOSHOP Ouam volorum nullabore taquam commo estia

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TUTORIAL

Create a Cosmic Inspired Dreamy Scene Photoshop and Illustrator compliment each other in many ways. Today we will demonstrate how you can use them in tandem to draw and color a inspired illustration. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s get started!

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LAYING OUT THE IMAGES

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Let’s start by creating a new A4 document in Photoshop. I want to design the composition for print, so it’s best to work with large files and high quality resources. If you want a new poster in your room, consider doing the same.

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With black as the foreground color, press Alt + Delete to fill the background layer. There are several techniques to create a space looking background filled with stars. For example you could use the noise filter and play with levels. But I think that brushes give more control on how stars will look.

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Now you can freely give life to your stars. You don’t need to do much more than click on the canvas. Feel free to re-size brushes or use several layers with different opacity levels to make them more realistic. All these features can be controlled with brushes options.

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It’s time to add some clouds. Create a new layer and go to Filter > Render > Clouds. Set the layer to screen in order to remove black areas, reduce opacity to around 30% and use the erase tool – or a mask if you prefer – to remove clouds from the edges of the canvas, so that they are concentrated into the center of the composition.

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TUTORIAL

CREATE A SPACE SCENE

LAYING OUT THE IMAGES

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We can try creating it with some Photoshop tricks. Create a new layer and fill it with black. Then grab a large soft brush and paint a white spot into the center.

1 Go to Filter > Liquify. select the Twirl Clockwise tool and click over the spot to create a kind of spiral. to use this tool is to click and drag, creating small circles.

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The reason is that final result depends on the quality of the resources used, and it’s very difficult to find an expressive face surfing through sites that offer free images. Anyway you could consider using a picture of a friend (if possible a friend with a Quentin Tarantino’s style look) or use any type of image you prefer. You will be able to continue following the tutorial without problems. As you may have noticed, after extracted the dude using the pen tool, I’ve eliminated some areas that were exuberant in my opinion.

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Press Cmd/Ctrl+T to activate the transform tool and stretch and rotate the spiral. you want to make it softer, eliminating those inner black lines, apply a Gaussian blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur) with a low value (around 3px)

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Select the brush we just created and apply the same settings we used before with the stars. In this way the brush will give you a kind of animated effect, with different angles and opacities. Create a new layer below the dude’s group and play with the brush.

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LAYING OUT THE IMAGES

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The point now is how to modify the astronaut so that he looks inside the cube? Grab the pen tool in “shape layers” mode and create 3 shapes that cover the 3 front faces of the cube

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Now add the following styles to the shapes. The only thing that you have to change for each shape is the gradient overlay angle.

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Reduce the opacity of the 3 layers so they will look transparent. Finally apply the Surface filter to the astronaut (Filter > Blur > Surface blur)

LAYING OUT THE IMAGES

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Now add a curve adjustment layer. Here I’ve played with curves until I’ve achieved a good color combination. There’s no secret recipe for this. Simply play with options and don’t worry if you obtain something totally different. Follow your taste.taste.

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Create a new group below the “Adjustments” one and title it “colors”. Set the blending mode of the group to overlay. It’s my habit to use some layers set to overlay to change the color of specific areas, and put these layers on top of the others. For example if I want to enhance the center, I will paint over it using a white soft brush – with the layer set on overlay.

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In this case I’ve used blue to paint over the edges. I had the impression that a dark color would have directed the user attention to the center. Secondly I’ve painted over the face using a large soft orange brush, and over the nebula with a yellow brush..

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TUTOrial

LAYING OUT THE IMAGES

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We are near the end, don’t worry. Create a new group below the “colors” one, and title it “light effects”. Switch the blend mode to Color dodge. Then create a layer inside it and create some spots over the areas you want to enhance. Create several spots on different layers and play with their opacity. The aim of this step is to make the composition more vivid. Focus you attention on the points that you consider more important – the face, the cubes, the nebula – and click over these.

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FINAL TOUCH UP

Copy and paste the illustrations in Photoshop (as smart objects in order to prevent scalability), add the following styles.

The last touch (I promise!). I’ve written “This is not real”, thus underlining the sense of the entire composition. The font used is Republika. To give more style to the text, I’ve duplicated it and applied a soft motion blur to the duplicated text.

FINAL STEPS We’ve finished guys! We could have added more details, but I think it’s sufficient for the purposes of this tutorial. I hope you have learned something new, and that you like the end result!

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Touchy Subjects: Wacom's Add Multitouch The Cintiq5 can handle all the standard Mac and Windows gestures out of the box, but it can also be programmed to support custom gestures. Intuos5 tablets come in three sizes: small ($230), medium ($350) and large ($470). Each tablet comes with a comfortable Wacom input pen (no battery required), a pen holder that resembles an inkwell and holds extra pen nibs, and a USB cable to attach the tablet to your PC. Also available is a $40 wireless kit (a small USB receiver and a 10-hour battery) that lets you run the Intuos5 free of cables. Wacom loaned me a mediumsized tablet to test for the month leading up to Thursday’s

launch. I can say that it’s a significant improvement over the previous Intuos4 tablets, as well as a suitable upgrade for those who feel limited by the less-expensive, less-capable Bamboo tablets Wacom makes for consumers. However, while the pen-based input is crisper and more intuitive than ever, the multitouch features aren’t quite as refined as those found on a glass interface like the Magic Trackpad or a smartphone’s screen.

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Wireless can easily be added across the range with a cheap upgrade module

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“The Intuos’s design has been subtly rethought and polished in a delightfully sleek way.” - Editor

5/6

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Thursday’s launch. I can say that it’s a significant improvement over the previous Intuos4 tablets, as well as a suitable upgrade for those who feel limited by the less-expensive, less-capable Bamboo tablets Wacom makes for consumers. However, while the pen-based input is crisper and more intuitive than ever, the multitouch features aren’t quite as refined as those found on a glass interface like the Magic Trackpad or a smartphone’s screen.

Specification Display

12.1″ Diagonal

Display Area (w x d)

261 x 162mm

Dimensions (w x d x h)

406 x 266 x 17mm

Colour Depth

16.7 Million Colours

Stand

Incline 25-60˚

360˚ on pivot

Rotation up to 180˚

Touch Strips/Rings

2 Touch Rings, front

Touch Gesture Function

Express Keys

10 (5 each side)

System Requirements

Windows 2000/XP, Vista

Mac OSX 10.3.9 or later

Mac OSX 10.4 or later

Power Input

100-240V AC Power

Price (RRP)**

£949

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New heads-up display on the ExpressKeys reminds you of your settings in an instant. All the settings and gestures are customizable.

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Trends That Will Define The Future Of Infographics Now that everyone loves them, early adopters and forward thinkers want to know what is next for the infographic. Is this just the beginning of a visual revolution, or have they already jumped the shark? THE FUTURE OF INFOGRAPHICS

Over the past year, we have seen an evolution in the way people are thinking about infographics. Diverse applications are opening up the realm of what is possible and valuable through innovation.

HTML5

The prevalence of the iPad and iPhone have fueled the desire for the development of interactivity in graphics viewable on these devices. Developers are utilizing HTML and HTML5 to fulfill this desire, creating rich interactives viewable on these platforms. Unless Apple changes its feelings about Flash anytime soon, I imagine this trend will continue to grow.

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Interactive Infographics

Interactive infographics, typically Flash-based, are also becoming more common for use in editorial content. These allow designers and developers to visualize multiple layers of data in a single interface, while providing a dynamic user experience for the viewer. The obvious drawback in creating Flash interactives is the lack of support on the iPhone and iPad. While this is an increasingly serious limitation, the ease of development can often outweigh this consideration, and still net a very positive effect.

INFOGRAPHICS AT PRESENT

Infographics have been utilized for hundreds of years for various purposes, but have taken on a new face in the last few years, with a bit of help from the Internet. Static graphics are by far the most common medium, likely due to the fact that they are the easiest to create and host. This also affects the success of graphic distribution, as an image file that is simple to download, upload, and re-post is more appealing to media outlets and blogs looking for fresh and interesting content to share on the web.

User-Interface Design In recent months, I have seen some new crossover between web development and information design. Mint.com’s experience was an early example of how typically stale financial information could become dynamic and encourage user interaction. The pioneers are finding that clear information display with intuitive interactivity is often a much more natural way to engage users within a site. This brings the heart of the site’s content to the forefront, and allows users to be hands-on. This is clearly dependent on a site’s purpose and subject matter, and is not a good fit for some content, but I believe infographics as UI provide a rich experience that will be common in the future.

IS THE INFOGRAPHIC DEAD?

My cofounder, Jason Lankow, says it well when people ask about the fate of infographics in the face of increasing web saturation. As he describes it, we are seeing the death of the novelty of infographics, not a decline in their value.

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Real-time Data Visualization

Another area poised for growth is the use of data visualization in real-time settings, providing updated visual representations of real-time events. The ubiquity of Twitter and the increased tracking of social analytics offer some immediate opportunities for this application. Media outlets will want to see what topics are trending, and what people are saying on particular topics in real-time. Brands will be monitoring, tracking, and measuring their social presence and brand sentiment on the web, and they will want the most current information available, viewable in a well-designed and easy-tounderstand interface.

Real-time Data Visualization

User-Interface Design In recent months, I have seen some new crossover between web development and information design. Mint.comâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience was an early example of how typically stale financial information could become dynamic and encourage user interaction. The pioneers are finding that clear information display with intuitive interactivity is often a much more natural way to engage users within a site. This brings the heart of the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s content to the forefront, and allows users to be hands-on. This is clearly dependent on a siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purpose and subject matter, and is not a good fit for some content, but I believe infographics as UI provide a rich experience that will be common in the future.

Interactive Infographics

Motion Graphics

Utilizing motion and animation in infographics is another current trend that is on the rise. These motion graphics are usually narrative-based, and use a combination of illustration, data visualization, and kinetic text to inform a viewer on a particular topic. While this provides an entirely different viewer experience, this medium is valuable in walking the viewer through an explanation or presenting an opinion. These can also be useful in more brand-centric messaging, by bringing the information to life for the desired audience.

Motion Graphics

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Looking for Creative loyalty Image ? We bring you the Top 6 Stock photo website

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Stock.Xchng www.sxc.hu

Fotolia www.fotolia.com

Stock.xchng is a free resource with a pick-and-mix approach. Images come in all orientations and sizes, and the Lightboxes feature enables you to bookmark your favourite images. An Advanced Search filter can sort the restricted image types from non-restricted examples, with some images requiring credit to the artist.

Sign up for free to Fotolia for a choice of nearly 17 million royalty-free stock photos. On top of those, there are plentiful vectors and videos available to use in your Photoshop compositions. The Infinite Collection is where you’ll find the best of Fotolia’s internationally sourced premium stock. Subscriptions are available.

Free Digital Photos www.freedigitalphotos.net

iStockphoto www.istockphoto.com

Great stock photos don’t necessarily have to come at a high cost, or even any price at all. Free Digital Photos provides every one of its images as a free download, but at small pixel dimensions, for example 400 x 300. This makes them ideal for using with web projects, or as part of a larger composition. Bigger files come at a price however, starting at $3 and rising up to $10, per image, for the highest resolution. This is comparatively cheap based on competitor pricing.

There’s much more to iStockphoto.com than just royalty-free stock images, as the website also provides illustrations, video, Flash animations and even audio files, amounting to over ten million resources in all. Free membership includes access to special offers and hand-picked stock, chosen for its superior quality. The Vetta Collection holds the best of the best from a range of artists, priced slightly higher for its premium quality.

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SHOWCASE Xeriaerro volorpos repe eate volore et ut eos aut et ut aut est rentdante

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet ibero tellus sagittis erat, in convallis sapien arcu quis purus. Sed dapibus felis in lectus semper tempor. Nunc magna ante, condimentum a dignissim fringilla, interdum suscipit eros. Suspendisse sit ain hendrerit ultricies, ornare ac mi. Nulla sem ligula, porttitor dignissim ultricies id, sodales vitae orcnare lacus varius justo laoreet lacinia. Nunc ut metus sit amet metus vulputate elementum quis non nulla.

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tempor orci dignissim vel. Donec fermentum congue vestibulum Nam ipsum leo. bero tellus sagittis erat, in convallis sapien arcu quis purus. Sed dapibus felis in lectus semper tempor. Nunc magna ante, condimentum a dignissim fringilla, interdum suscipit eros. Suspendiss

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e sit ain hendrerit ultricies, ornare ac mi. Nulla sem ligula, porttitor dignissim ultricies id, sodales vitae orci. Pellentesque orci elit, faucibus eAenean eu ipsum vitae enim ultrices pharetra a auctor sapiue vulputate b ibendum posuere. Duis ornare lacus varius justo laoreet lacinia. Nunc ut metus sit amet metus vulputate elementum quis non nulla. Integer sit amet augue ante.

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web design development trends for 2012 1

Progressive enhancement

According to Happy Cog founder Jeffrey Zeldman, “the rise of mobile and the dominance of WebKit-powered smartphones over traditional desktop web browsing is convincing even die-hard skeptics to embrace progressive enhancement, HTML5, CSS3, and other tenets and aspects of standards-based design”.

Native support for plug-in features

We’ll see greater pressure for browser support of features that we used to use plug-ins for: camera and microphone access with HTML5 getUserMedia, and other things further out, such as support for adaptive streaming of multimedia.”

Responsive design

Clearleft founder Andy Budd reckons this could be a means for “forwardthinking publishers to usurp Apple’s paywall on the iPad,” and predicts a gentle trickle of big responsive sites turning into a flood by year’s end: “It’ll be like the standards movement all over again.” But Flat Frog Design user experience strategist Erin Jo Richey thinks it won’t be plainsailing: “Just because a site can shrink in size, that doesn’t mean all the information is equally valuable on desktop and mobile. The type of information users interact with needs to adjust as fluidly as the size of the site itself.” She says 2012 will therefore find more project leads and clients see past screen size and demand an appropriate strategy dictates the content that appears at various resolutions.

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A device explosion

Designs Principal Aaron Gustafson thinks growth in mobile will lead to a major challenge: “Designers and developers will have to embrace the smaller tablet form factors – think Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire instead of iPad – as cheap tablet devices flood the market.” Lobb adds that this will lead to more developers “needing to own multiple devices, in order to check site compatibility”.

Appification takes hold

In terms of technology, social software consultant Suw Charman-Anderson reckons the convenience of apps is a boon for consumers but a pain for developers, in “having to create an app for every platform and deal with various store policies”. Beyond the native-versus-web-app row, she sees 2012 bringing about “widespread adoption of mixed native/HTML5 apps, where you can feed content to your apps across all platforms from a central source”. She cites Pugpig.com as an example: “They’re already merging iOS and Android with HTML5 and creating great user experiences. It’s only a matter of time before this tactic takes off as the only real way that smaller content producers can keep up with the demands of different platforms.”

Web app fragmentation

While web apps should find increased success in 2012, Lawson fears the year will also be one of fragmentation, replacing one group of proprietary systems (native apps) with another. “The spirit of co-operation between browser vendors will continue for the HTML5 spec, but not filter into other web stack specifications,” he says, sadly, noting that we’ve already seen Chromeonly apps. “A severe case of ‘not invented here’ can be seen in the 10 – yes, 10! – different app manifest formats invented by vendors instead of collaborating to make the W3C one better. This harms developers and, worse, lack of interoperability hurts

Source from http://www.netmagazine.com/features/15-top-web-design-and-development-trends-2012

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Mobile site Sites have been being designed for mobile scenarios since the inception of mobile devices

Sites have been being designed for mobile scenarios since the inception of mobile devices… but 2010 has seen a huge push towards entire sub-sites that are designed specifically to be viewed on small, handheld screens. You can thank the iPhone for starting this trend, but the wave of “mobified” sites is spreading like wildfire…. and come this same time next year, I’m sure you’ll be hard-pressed to find a major publishing site without a mobile companion site. What’s neat about mobile screens is that it forces designers to get creative with a relatively small amount of real estate. Succeeding in the mobile environment isn’t tough if you keep a few rules in mind: Messages need to be conveyed quicker and with more efficiency; Links have to be designed for a touchscreen environment; and text needs to become legible (or at least effectively zoomable).

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THe death of the fold the imaginary line on a screen that designates what content is visible before a viewer needs to scroll The traditional “fold” (the imaginary line on a screen that designates what content is visible before a viewer needs to scroll) became vague, unimportant, and nearly irrelevant in 2010. Why? Because the traditional “screen” that people view the web through has undergone an explosion of variety… no longer can we expect websurfers to be on something close to a 19″ monitor with a resolution somewhere between 1024×768 and 1280×700. Screens nowadays come in all shapes and sizes, from iPhones (and smaller phones) to 60″

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HDTVs. It’s not just resolution that can vary wildly though; the very aspect ratio of a screen (even on the same device like the iPhone) can change with the flick of the wrist. Sure, web designers will always be advised to keep the most important messages of a site near the top, but with so many new ways for web-surfers to view the web, there’s no longer a defined height for where content must be above. We’ll be discussing this topic in a lot more detail this month, so subscribe (it’s free) to stay tuned :)

http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/design-theory/the-state-of-webdesign-trends-2011-annual-edition/

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Behind the scene

Sed dapibus lectus semper tempor, condimentum a dignissim fri Ouam volorum nullabore taquam commo estia

orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla ac sem vitae metus congue consequat. Nunc non purus ac purus consequat tempor ut rhoncus lectus. Nulla facilisi. Curabitur quis diam libero. Phasellus egestas nulla in enim sagittis nec convallis metus a quam diam. Nam in nulla risus. Sed cursus viverra sem sit amet venenatis. Nam ultricies libero ac arcu tincidunt a posuere purus fermentum. Aenean ac nulla sed sapien placerat scelerisque. Integer eget lectus libero, et consequat massa. Etiam a velit magna. Maecenas ac est et tortor viverra aliquam quis in tortor. Phasellus tellus ante, egestas a imperdiet et, vestibulum

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eget est. Aenean purus tortor, cursus ac elementum quis, lacinia quis sapien. Etiam a pulvinar sem. Vivamus blandit arcu at tellus lobortis non blandit diam mattis. Praesent sit amet risus eget metus dapibus cursus non ac nunc. Nam vestibulum quam eget quam dapibus lacinia. Quisque vestibulum mattis metus vel convallis. Donec felis mi, eleifend ut auctor tempor, egestas at lorem. Curabitur eu turpis est. Vestibulum at scelerisque nisl. Pellentesque porttitor, felis eu commodo placerat, velit tortor pretium risus, quis euismod nisl nisi eget metus. Quisque quis libero urna. In commodo, mi a facilisis facilisis, libero nisl feugiat orci, et sodales tortor mauris eget orci.

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R U E IT R W SAGE ! MES

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Solutions for Creating Cross-Platform Mobile Apps Here are some essential tips for designers and not only. Some of them are universal and can be ascribed with many other similarities in your own life even if it’’s not really w

MISTAKE MADE IN WEB DESIGN Essential tips for designers, some of them are universal and can be ascribed with many other similarities in your own life even if it’’s not really with design.

Bad search

Overly literal search engines reduce usability in that they’re unable to handle typos, plurals, hyphens, and other variants of the query terms. Such search engines are particularly difficult for elderly users, but they hurt everybody.

Low Search Engine Visibility

Search is the most important way users discover websites. Search is also one of the most important ways users find their way around individual websites. The humble page title is your main tool to attract new visitors from search listings and to help your existing users to locate the specific pages that they need.

Violating Design Conventions

Consistency is one of the most powerful usability principles: when things always behave the same, users don’t have to worry about what will happen. Instead, they know what will happen based on earlier experience. Every time you release an apple over Sir Isaac Newton, it will drop on his head. That’s good.

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Not Changing the Color of Visited Links

Read about design

Id modisse cepedipicae iderernam lam, ne repro ident ex etus si officipsunti conseque etur? Quiatus Videm solorem a similit dendic

Read about design

Id modisse cepedipicae iderernam lam, ne repro ident ex etus si officipsunti conseque etur? Quiatus Videm solorem a similit dendic

A good grasp of past navigation helps you understand your current location, since it’s the culmination of your journey. Knowing your past and present locations in turn makes it easier to decide where to go next. Links are a key factor in this navigation process.

Fixed font size

CSS style sheets unfortunately give websites the power to disable a Web browser’s “change font size” button and specify a fixed font size. About 95% of the time, this fixed size is tiny, reducing readability significantly for most people over the age of 40.

Opening New Browser Windows

Read about design

Id modisse cepedipicae iderernam lam, ne repro ident ex etus si officipsunti conseque etur? Quiatus Videm solorem a similit dendic

Opening up new browser windows is like a vacuum cleaner sales person who starts a visit by emptying an ash tray on the customer’s carpet. Don’t pollute my screen with any more windows, thanks (particularly since operating systems have miserable window management).

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MISTAKE MADE IN WEB DESIGN Here are some essential tips for designers and not only. Some of them are universal and can be ascribed with many other similarities in your own life even if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not really with design. Eri diorunto corepta voluptate laborepella doluptatem quat et ipis exerchilique volo beritiscia que net officil loriate mporia volorum nonsequ amusaecae exceper esequi quia accus aperiorerunt ullanih itatqui blaturperumque lab incid quam, sunt voloruntiae omnihil imus asperianda omnimi, suntusa dit qui alis nis is volorati coremporitem rero blaccus daeprest idus dempos voloris voluptasi sum ilitis apicips aererio. Ga. At voluptamus aliqui nonet magnime debis sed ut

magnitatium vid mi, to quiditatiat perovidunt aut verum ex eliqui rerferc hiliqua spelignim venimol uptatur, ad et aut lam, untios que coria simendel endelit et, sant pra quis nis dolum hit, sae commolorem. eri diorunto corepta voluptate laborepella doluptatem quat et ipis exerchilique volo beritiscia que net officil loriate mporia volorum nonsequ amusaecae exceper esequi quia accus aperiorerunt ullanih.

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GENERATING WEB CONTENT Ouam volorum nullabore taquam commo estiaNullorionsed unte re nonsenis autate nonesti beaquunt volum quid et autemos mi, sum non natur aperae provid.

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LAYING OUT THE IMAGES

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LAYING OUT THE IMAGES

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In libero eros, consectetur sed euismod a, fringilla non libero. Mauris convallis facilisis magna, eleifend molestie ipsum imperdiet id. Donec gravida justo at risus hendrerit in feugiat sapien tincidunt. Duis quis mi dolor eleifend molestie ipsum imperdiet id. Donec gravida justo at risus hendrerit in feugiat sapien tincidunt. Duis quis mi dolo

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In libero eros, consectetur sed euismod a, fringilla non libero. Mauris convallis facilisis magna, eleifend molestie ipsum imper.

LAYING OUT THE IMAGES

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In libero eros, consectetur sed euismod a, fringilla non libero. Mauris convallis facilisis magna, eleifend molestie ipsum imperdiet id. Donec gravida justo at risus hendrerit in feugiat sapien tincidunt. Duis quis mi dolor eleifend molestie ipsum imperdiet id. Donec gravida justo at risus hendrerit in feugiat sapien tincidunt. Duis quis mi dolo

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ARTIST IMPRESSION Ouam volorum nullabore taquam commo estia Itatiunt acerfere nonsectam facia inctiatus ea quam doleseque maxim apiet dunt ea dundi inc a quam doleseque maxim apiet dunt ea dundi inc ipsum fugia pos rehendus. Dus, quatur atiorruntur aut utem vendipi derunde liquae nulpari berrorum volore ipiditat a quam doleseque maxim apiet dunt ea dundi inc. Ficae. Pic tem quamet untiosant exero eri diorunto corepta voluptate

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DESCRIPTION

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PRO TIPS & TECHNIQUE TO MASTER

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Use 32Bit Color

In standard 8-bit mode, After Effects will clip colours that reach a brightness of 100%, throwing away colour information and leaving you with flat, blown-out highlights. Switch to 32-bit mode by Alt/Opt+clicking on the composition

colour depth marker, and your highlights will be allowed to get brighter than 100% while retaining colour data â&#x20AC;&#x201C; essential for great-looking blooms and glows. 32-bit colour also enables you to throw far more colour correction at a shot without losing source data, making it ideal for achieving a strong, filmic look in your projects.

FIND KEYFRAMEREADY EFFECTS

Save time on manually creating transitions between clips by taking advantage of the transition animation presets. Open the Effects and Presets panel, then open the disclosure arrow next to Animation Presets. Under the Presets folder, a folder called Transitions contains a number of keyframe-ready effects for you to drag onto your footage.

ADD A CAMERA

If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got elements arranged in 3D space and want to achieve a depth of field effect, or animate the point of view inside that 3D space, you can only do so by adding a camera to your composition. Choose Layer>New>Camera, and make sure you remember to tick the Enable Depth Of Field checkbox. Then change the properties of your camera to alter the DOF and bokeh generated.

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4 5

USE LAYER STYLES

Many After Effects users forget that Layer Styles are available. Similar to Photoshop, Layer Styles enable you to add a series of effects directly to a layer and have them rendered as live effects. You can also keyframe the style properties, making them ideal for quick, common effects such as drop shadows, inner shadows and stroke. Access Layer Styles by highlighting a layer in the Timeline panel and choosing Layer>Layer Styles, and pick from Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Outer Glow, Inner Glow, Bevel and Emboss, Satin, Color Overlay, Gradient Overlay or Stroke.

PRE COMP YOUR PRE-COMPS

Try to pre-comp all the elements of a project that you think might have the potential to change – be it colour, shape, design and so on. This way you can avoid revolving your entire animation around a risk asset, and minimise the risk of ruining the animation if it then requires replacing – useful with clients prone to changing their minds at the last minute.

REPLACE ASSETS QUICKLY

To replace an asset on the timeline with another, first highlight the asset on the timeline and then highlight the asset in your project window. Hold Alt/Opt and drag it from your project window to the timeline – release and it’s replaced.

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VIDEO MYTH THAT JUST NEED TO DIE Video marketing has taken some giant steps into becoming a mainstream marketing tool on the Web during the past 7 years. Video editting equipment is too expensive own

FALSE

Proin sit amet tellus ut nisi fringilla tempus dimentum posuere blandit. Donec cursus commodo nisi quis facilisis. Nunc tincidunt, tortor at faucibus adipiscing.Tiis atur? Um voluptae voluptat omnimpo rempos debis rerci blandam et explabor si aut fugiatesed exped quissi dolute et ant

Video editting is difficult to learn

FALSE

Proin sit amet tellus ut nisi fringilla tempus dimentum posuere blandit. Donec cursus commodo nisi quis facilisis. Nunc tincidunt, tortor at faucibus adipiscing. Nam sim atur site aut ape eost, solupicia cones ut eiuntur, corrum ant, ulpa cus molorest, il id quas eos sequi quatque

Video editing takes a long time to finish

FALSE

I need to be an eloquent speaker

FALSE

Need a streaming server to play my video

FALSE

Just one good editting video software will do

FALSE

What it takes to be a good video editior

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eri diorunto corepta voluptate laborepella doluptatem quat et ipis exerchilique volo beritiscia que net officil loriate mporia volorum nonsequ amusaecae exceper esequi quia accus aperiorerunt ullanih itatqui blaturperumque lab incid quam, sunt voloruntiae omnihil imus asperianda omnimi, suntusa dit qui alis nis is volorati coremporitem rero blaccus daeprest idus dempos voloris voluptasi sum ilitis apicips aererio. Ga. At voluptamus aliqui nonet magnime debis sed ut magnitatium vid mi, to quiditatiat perovidunt aut verum ex eliqui rerferc hiliqua spelignim venimol uptatur, ad et aut lam, untios que coria simendel endelit et, sant pra quis nis dolum hit, sae commolorem.

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Fonts to Faces 9 Personality-Rich Typographies as Portraits

s humans, we are programmed to anthropomorphize our surroundings. So what would happen if the letters on pages conveyed meanings others than the words they represented â&#x20AC;Ś say, actual (versus just typographic) faces? In this Type Faces Project, Tiago Pinto takes familiar fonts, breaks them down into serif, sans-serif and miscellaneous, then assembles them to form caricatures based on

eri diorunto corepta voluptate laborepella doluptatem quat et ipis exerchilique volo eri diorunto corepta voluptate laborepella doluptatem quat et ipis exerchilique volo http://weburbanist. com/2012/08/15/fontsto-faces-9-personalityrich-typographies-asportraits/

inferred character traits. Futura becomes a kind of excited science geek â&#x20AC;&#x201C; forward-thinking optimist, perhaps. Times New Roman is, predictably, that stodgy old bottom-liner. And Baskerville is, well, quite the hound dog. It should come as no surprise that WingDings (upper left above) is one weird-looking dude, or that Comic Sans (upper right above) is a hopelessly confused-looking loser.

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T S N I O T I R A RESS IMP

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INTERVIEW

Interview With David Lindberg About His Work With Color Grading First of all, make a primary correction which means fix your scene so that it looks natural and clean. It is basically getting your scene correctly balanced, but some also do their contrast in the primary so that the highlights are completely white and the blacks are completely black (a good way of getting this right is looking at a waveform), but I use to do this when I’m creating my overall look. Then you have the secondary correction which means making keys and masks if there are something you want to lit or darken. Sometimes maybe a wall or a chair is too light or too saturated so that it steals the attention from the actors or the thing you want to focus on, then it’s good to darken or

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desaturate it so that the eyes doesn’t think it’s so distracting. Fixing skin tones and eyes are also something you often do in your secondary correction. Then in the master correction, you want to add your look. Create a look you think is good for the scene, like adding different nuances in the shadows, midtones and highlights. Here’s is also where I add my contrast by deciding how dark or bright the shadows, midtones and highlights should be. This is a very important step though it kind of decides what time it is, were they are and what kind of weather it is.

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WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A COLOR GRADER

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How did you get started in color grading work and when did you decide to specialize in color? I’ve been working with making films for three years now but it wasn’t until one year ago I decided to specialize in color grading and that I wanted to be a professional colorist. To split my three years into three chapters we can say that the first year was mostly VFX while the second year was spent on cinematography. I wanted to learn as much as I could so that later

I could decide what I wanted to do and what was most inspiring to me. When I started to get many jobs I started to feel in every project that I always longed to when the editing was done so that I could jump into the grading part. When I later thought about it, it was all obvious to me ’cause when I was young I always painted, it was my truly passion. So grading is basically a mix between my two big passions

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What/Who inspires you? Music and life inspires me. When sitting on the bus or the car, I never just sit and watch my phone, instead I look at the nature, the people, the buildings and the sky and automatically I get inspiration from those sights. But what I find absolutely most satisfying is sunsets and sunrises. The color of the sun when it has that burning orange or magical red is unbeatable. I can sit and watch it for hours, just noticing how the trees, buildings and sea is affected

by the low angled warm light. That inspires me. But I also have films and directors that I find very inspirational. I love his style and the grading he uses in his films are fantastic. I just saw the trailer for his new super man film, Man of Steel, and the grading in it are so ridiculous good. The blue, unsaturated and low mid toned style is so sad but still interesting.

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TOP 6 Killer website Nem etur? Genet vellant. Genis ra dolorenecea coreptam quia voluptatur aut eum qui ratiur, optatio ribu. Heading number 3

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To split my three years into three chapters we can say that the first year was mostly VFX while the second year was spent on cinematography. I wanted to learn as much as I could so that later I could decide what I wanted to do and what was most inspiring to me.

I’ve been working with making films for three years now but it wasn’t until one year ago I decided to specialize in color grading and that I wanted to be a professional colorist.

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When I started to get many jobs I started to feel in every project that I always longed to when the editing was done so that I could jump into the grading part. When I later thought about it, it was all obvious to me ’cause when I was young I a I’ve been working with making films for three years now but it wasn’t until one year ago I decided to specialize in color grading and that I wanted to be a professional colorist. To split my three years into three chapters we can say that the first year was mostly VFX while the second year was spent

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I’ve been working with making films for three years now but it wasn’t until one year ago I decided to specialize in color grading and that I wanted to be a professional colorist. To split my three years into three chapters we can say that the first year was mostly VFX while the second year was spent on cinematography. I wanted to learn as much as I could so that later I could decide what I wanted to do and what was most inspiring to me. When I started to get many jobs I started to feel in every project that I always longed to when the editing was done so that I could jump into the grading part. When I later thought about it, it was all obvious to me ’cause when I was young I a

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Behind the scene

6 step to the perfect color grade Ouam volorum nullabore taquam commo estia

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Composition secrets Ouam volorum nullabore taquam commo estiaNullorionsed unte re nonsenis autate nonesti beaquunt volum quid et autemos mi, sum non natur aperae provid.

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“the reader should read the message” to “the message should speak to the reader” Gone are the days when gaudy headlines were the key to grab your readers’ attention. Eventually, the monotonous framework and seas of wording in a justified alignment became an eye sore, leading the reader’s eye to wander off. Aesthetics play a very important role in any medium these days. Pick any element from colour to font selection to graphics; each contribute to the overall feel of the message that the writer is trying to convey.

Serif

In any setting, be it emails or magazines, the requirement has changed from “the reader should read the message to “the message should speak to the reader”. The font within a context is crucial because before reading the message, it is the visuals that set the tone of the message and capture your audience. Whether it is a causal or formal message, the kind of audience it is intended for, the kind of feelings the message is trying to evoke, can all be accentuated by the right kind of font.

San Serif

There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to choosing between Serif and Sans Serif. Due to their similarity to handwriting, serif fonts are known for their legibility for larger bodies of text while sans serif fonts look ‘clean’ and are

great for headings or even shorter bodies of text on screen. However, depending on the font size and spacing between c h a r a c t e r in certain fonts, a sans serif font might be a better option for the body text .

Selecting the RIGHT font Fonts have the ability to elicit a certain mood so the writer should pick one that resonates most with the message. A simple exercise in selecting the font would be to write down a sentence that summarises the message and experiment with as many fonts as possible. There will always be a few that complement the intent of the writer. This is why fonts

like Comic Sans can relate to children or depict a fun and casual message while Helvetica is more no-nonsense. However, note that not everybody might go into so much detail as the writer and sometimes selecting a font that might be readable across multiple platforms (if any), might be the best option.

Using multiple fonts Ideally, there should be no more than three fonts used throughout the message. Do not be afraid to experiment with contrasting fonts for the headings, sub headings and pull-quotes as they lend more character to the article on a whole. Just a point to note, avoid using similar typefaces together, especially script, as they create a visual clash. Remember, the point of using different fonts is to accentuate the highlights of the message.

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The font selection should not be so technical as it is an injection of persona to the message. It is all about trial and error before the font and message harmonise. So keep experimenting with small pieces of work till the font selection process comes naturally.

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SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS and update Ouam volorum nullabore taquam commo estia Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla ac sem vitae metus congue consequat. Nunc non purus ac purus consequat tempor ut rhoncus lectus. Nulla facilisi. Curabitur quis diam libero. Pha

dapibus cursus non ac nunc. Nam vestibulum quam eget quam dapibus lacinia. Quisque vestibulum mattis metus vel convallis. Donec felis mi, eleifend ut auctor tempor, egestas at lorem. Curabitur eu turpis est.

sellus egestas nulla in enim sagittis ra aliquam quis in tortor. Phasellus tellus ante, egestas a imperdiet et, vestibulum eget est. Aenean purus tortor, cursus ac elementum quis, lacinia quis sapien. Etiam a pulvinar sem. Vivamus blandit arcu at tellus lobortis non blandit diam mattis. Praesent sit amet risus eget metus

Vestibulum at scelerisque nisl. Pellentesque porttitor, felis eu commodo placerat, velit tortor pretiut est. Aenean purus tortor, cursus ac elementum quis, lacinia quis sapien. Etiam a pulvinar sem. m risus, quis euismod nisl nisi eget metus. Quisque quis libero urna. In commodo, mi a facilisis

m vestibulum quam eget quam dapibus lacinia. Quisque vestibulum mattis metus vel convallis. Donec felis mi, eleifend ut auctor tempor, egestas at lorem. Curabitur eu turpis est. Vestibulum at scelerisque nisl. Pellentesque porttitor, felis eu commodo placerat, velit tortor pretiut est. Aenean purus tortor, cursus ac elementum quis, lacinia quis sapien. Etiam a

pulvinar sem. m risus, quis euismod nisl nisi eget metus. Quisque quis libero urna. In commodo, mi a facilisis facilisis, libero nisl feugiat orci, et sodales tortor mauris eget orci. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla ac sem vitae metus congue consequat. Nunc non purus ac purus consequat tempor ut rhoncus lectus. Nulla facilisi. Curabitur quis

facilisis, libero nisl feugiat orci, et sodales tortor mauris eget orci. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla ac sem vitae metus congue consequat. Nunc non purus ac purus consequat tempor ut rhoncus lectus. Nulla facilisi. Curabitur quis diam libero. Phasellus egestas nulla iegestas a imperdiet et, vestibulum eget est. Aenean purus tortor, cursus ac elementum quis, lacinia quis sapien. Etiam

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SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS and update

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6 Essential Tips Every Designer Should Be Aware Of Here are some essential tips for designers and not only. Some of them are universal and can be ascribed with many other similarities in your own life even if it’’s not really with design. All tips are connected between so you should better read them all to get perfect understanding.

Never stop learning

Learning is never too much. You can never master everything, but at least you can try. Don’t limit yourself with just one direction. It’s always more advantageous to master for example Photoshop and Illustrator than just Photoshop. Nowadays there are tutorials and articles all over the internet. Try not just to look at the tutorial’s pictures, but try it as well.

Work less

If you just don’t feel like working then don’t do it. If you aren’t able to work good just don’t do it. Instead of sitting there, trying to do something, stressing, go outside and blow the cobwebs away.

Read about design

It doesn’t matter if it’s a blog, a book or magazine. Stay up to date and read about things you’re interested in. You’ll find a lot of tutorials, articles and inspiration in blogs. Find time to really read something, not just run over the pictures.

Live not just exist

Probably you will not want to remember your spent hours with computer, but something unique. Your graduation, first kiss or something wild you’ve done. Life’s much more than design. I hope you got the message told in last three tips and maybe I motivated you to change something.

Bookmark it !

Probably every day you see something good on the internet. A Tutorial, article or some inspiration. Bookmark all of them. After couple of months you’ll have a great reading material for late nights. It doesn’t apply just on the internet.

Don’t be afraid

People always tend to follow the crowd. Maybe somewhere it’s working, but definitely not in design. You have to differ from the others, have something unique just to you.

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FEATURE STORY pg

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apicips aererio. Ga. At voluptamus aliqui nonet magnime debis sed ut mavenimol uptatur, ad et aut lam, untios que coria simendel endelit et, sant pra quis nis dolum hit, sae commolorem.ptatem quat et ipis exerchilique volo beritiscia que net officil loriate mporia volorum nonsequ amuih itatqui blaturperumque lab incid quam, sunt voloruntiae omnihil imus asperianda blaccus daeprest idus dempos volo\eliq

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SOCIAL MEDIA update Ouam volorum nullabore taquam commo estia

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Aartistic talent and a wily business sense has combined to create one of the hottest studio on the planet.

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ou may not have heard of Massive Black, but you‚Äôve heard of its clients. Since 2003, the collective has grown from a handful of concept artists, animators, and 3D models to a full-on commercial art house supported by an international team of digital artists. The studio‚Äôs done work for Blizzard, Sega, Nintendo and EA with teams in downtown San Francisco and Shanghai. After creating a successful artist-driven collective with ties to the biggest names in the entertainment business, what’s next for Massive Black?

categorization. Made in collaboration with Unity, creators of the artist-friendly Unity 3D game engine, Mothhead stars an unlikely hero ‚Äì a bizarre, alien-like creature with a moth for a head. You can check out our first impressions on Mothhead here. The surreal puzzler defies the usual categorization with its unique mechanics and art style. Fortunately, Chris Hatala sat down with us afterwards and gave us his take on the project.

Well, aside from holding workshops designed to help young artists gain insight into digital art-making, publishing books and starting their own online art school (Jason Manley’s The Art Department), they’ve been working on bringing a long-held creative dream to life. During this year’s Massive Black concept art workshop, WorkshopSF, President/CEO Chris Hatala and Senior Art Director Coro Kaufman were on hand to announce the impending release of Massive Black’s first videogame, Mothhead.

Chris Hatala: It’s very simple. You make other people’s stuff for so long, there’s a longing to make your own thing. It’s really something we’ve been doing ever since we started but it’s only come to fruition just now. We always were creating IP ‚Äì we’ve got a ton of intellectual property just sitting around that we’re waiting to do stuff with. But from the beginning, the outsourcing was the way to fund the studio. You’ve got to generate revenue to keep the doors open. No one’s gonna pay us to make a game if we’re not proven so we have to find a way to do it in our free time. We’ve done so many other people’s games ‚Äì we have over 300 clients ‚Äì so we’ve had the knowledge to do it. We just didn’t

Based on the eerie mixed media sculptures of Hollywood maquette maker and concept artist Peter Konig, Mothhead is a game that defies easy

Why take the risk now of making your own game?

have the technical ability which Unity’s now provided. Today, Massive Black‚Äôs 55 artists provide concept design, storyboards, graphic design, illustration, 2D concept art, 3D modeling, texture painting, 3D animation, and marketing materials to more than 80 entertainment clients worldwide. Currently, about 80 percent of the studio‚Äôs work centers on the videogame industry, with the rest spread among film, advertising and marketing, television, and toy manufacturing. With branches in Shanghai and Bangkok, the San Francisco-based company has positioned itself to be competitive in cost as well as quality. Now, the company‚Äôs success has fostered a second goal: create and license its own original content. But, despite the commercial accomplishments ‚Äì the company has been profitable since its founding ‚Äì and the business acumen that implies, Massive Black still looks and feels more like a collective artists‚Äô atelier than a corporation. ‚ÄúWe keep the corporate side invisible,‚Äù says Jason Manley, co-founder and president. ‚ÄúIt has to be absolutely invisible for artistic culture to thrive.‚Äù

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Do DONT's and

Commandments of

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Video Blogging SIX DOTS

SECTION - HEAD Use a tripod

Unless you are using your laptop or a stable surface and going to capture yourself in one place every episode, a tripod is another must have. A tripod is quite handy as you can play with distance and angles without having the need to depend on anyone even if you decide to shoot outdoors.

Shooting in the dark

Is a big no no. Make sure you have ample lighting so that you are visible in your own video. You can test mood lighting for variation but unless you are making one of those anonymous videos, make sure you are the highlight of your message.

Timing

Time is of essence. Choosing the length of your video gets a little tricky as you may have a lot to say sometimes or feel that documenting the entire “travel” time is necessary. But, unless you are explaining your breakthrough invention, stick to the point and keep your video between 3-5 minutes. Give the audience a chance to want more of you.

Haters gonna hate

When you put yourself out on the Internet, you are allowing yourself to be subject to the good, the bad and the ugly. It is not easy dealing with the negativity sometimes but one has to be thick skinned to move past the remarks and learn from the constructive criticism others offer. Take a look at any successful vlogger’s videos; there will always people will not like the work.

Frequency

Finally, like any good vlogger, keep updating your channel with fresh material. This is how the viewers get to know you, start liking you and eventually subscribe to your work. Once you have decided to send out a new video every week or ten days, stick to it. A delay here and there is forgivable but huge gaps not only point out inefficiency and uninterest but will thin down your viewership.

Editing

Do not overwhelm the audience with your video editing skills but with your message. Too many transitions can come across as amateurish and throw the viewers off track. When using music, either get permission or use royalty free music. It is not only ethical but also a preventive measure from getting your video reported or taken off.

Points not Scripts

Once you have decided the topic that you want to talk about, list down the highlights of your message and use those as cue points to improvise on your message. Scripted videos are easily noticeable so do enough research on your topic that the message flows freely. On the other hand, avoid the usage of extra ‘ahs’ and ‘uhms’ as that makes you look clueless, not cute.

Thou shalt not covet

You will find a lot of vloggers who are comfortable in their skin and have thousands of subscribers. Instead of lamenting at the comparison between the numbers, go through their videos to see what worked for them and try learn (not copying) from their work. Remember, it was a long journey for them too.

MYTHBUSTER Editing

15%

Do not overwhelm the audience with your video editing skills but with your message.

Editing

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Choose your weapon wisely

If vlogging is something you are seriously considering, invest in a decent recording device. Smartphones are not advisable as they can interfere with the quality and sound of the video making it look choppy. Remember, how you are captured is how you present yourself to the world. You don’t want to be remembered as the person with great hand gestures but barely audible.

Know your audience

When you know the people your message is intended for, it is easier for you to relate to them. You will know the kind of language, expressions and level of humour that needs to be injected into your video.

MYTHBUSTER

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Thou shalt have no excessive shakiness. Modern version: Use a tripod.

3. Thou shalt not take a video in the dark. Modern version: Use some lights so watchers can see you.

5. Honour the watchers time by keeping your videos short. Modern version: Say hello. Get to the point. Say Good-bye.

7. Thou shalt not commit the script to memory so it sounds like a commercial. Modern version: Have some notes or an outline, but speak from what you know or from your heart.

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Commandments Of Video Blogging

2. Thou shalt not make a video with indiscernible audio. Modern version: Use a microphone!

4. Remember who your audience is and talk to them. Modern version: Be friends with your target market.

6. Thou shalt not kill a video with over editing. Modern version: You don’t need to use every transition the editing software gives you.

8. Thou shalt not steal music. Modern version: Get permission or find royalty free music.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy friends subscribers or view numbers. Modern version: Vloggers worked hard and uploaded good content to maintain and grow their YouTube channel. Don’t be jealous; do your own work. SIX DOTS

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SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS and update

Facebook

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Twitter

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MySpace

Google Plus+

DeviantArt

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LiveJournal

Tagged

Orkut

Ning

CafeMom

Meetup

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Wireless can easily be added across the range with a cheap upgrade module

Heading

“The Intuos’s design has been subtly rethought and polished in a delightfully sleek way.” - Editor

5/6

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30 Social Media Predictions for 2012 From the Pros

#1: Businesses consolidate social media activities Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla ac sem vitae metus congue consequat. Nunc non purus ac purus consequat tempor ut rhoncus lectus. Nulla facilisi. Curabitur quis diam libero. Pha sellus egestas nulla in enim sagittis ra aliquam quis in tortor. Phasellus tellus ante, egestas a imperdiet et, vestibulum eget est. Aenean purus tortor, cursus ac elementum quis, lacinia quis sapien. Etiam a pulvinar sem. Vivamus blandit arcu at tellus lobortis non blandit diam mattis. Praesent sit amet risus eget us blandit arcu at tellus lobortis non blandit diam mus blandit arcu at tellus lobortis non blandit diam mmetus dapibus cursus non ac nunc. Nam vestibulum quam eget quam dapibus lacinia. Quisque vestibulum mattis metus vel convallis. Donec felis mi,

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Summary & MethodologyComputerworld’s latest IT forecast survey indicates the hottest IT skills for 2012 and beyond. In June of 2011, Computerworld. com, a leading source of cutting-edge technology information for IT enthusiasts, professionals and executives - polled 353 IT managers about their technology hiring plans for 2012 in its annual IT forecast survey. The results provide valuable insight into which technology skills & expertise are likely to be the most sought-after in 2012. Subject matter experts at ITCareerFinder, a world-class online community for career-minded IT professionals, analyzed and summarized CW’s survey results to create this concise breakdown of the most demanded computer skills, desirable certifications and red-hot IT career tracks for 2012 & beyond. Sources: Computerworld’s 2012 IT Forecast Survey • ITCareerFinder.com

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IT forecast survey Summary & MethodologyComputerworld’s latest IT forecast survey indicates the hottest IT skills for 2012 and beyond. In June of 2011, Computerworld. com, a leading source of cutting-edge technology information for IT enthusiasts, professionals and executives - polled 353 IT managers about their technology hiring plans for 2012 in its annual IT forecast survey. The results provide valuable insight into which technology skills & expertise are likely to be the most sought-after in 2012. Subject matter experts at ITCareerFinder,

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Editing

Do not overwhelm the audience with your video editing skills but with your message.

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20%

SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS and update Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla ac sem vitae metus congue consequat. Nunc non purus ac purus consequat tempor ut rhoncus lectus. Nulla facilisi. Curabitur quis diam libero. Pha sellus egestas nulla in enim sagittis ra aliquam quis in tortor. Phasellus tellus ante, egestas a imperdiet et, vestibulum eget est. Aenean purus tortor, arcu at tellus lobortis non blandit diam mattis. por, egestas at lorem. Curabitur eu turpis est. Vestibulum at scelerisque nisl. Pellentesque porttitor, felis eu

27% 70%

commodo placerat, velit tortor pretiut est. Aenean purus tortor, cursus ac elementum quis, lacinia quis sapien. Etiam a pulvinar sem. m risus, quis euismod nisl nisi eget metus. Quisque quis libero urna. In commodo, mi a facilisis facilisis, libero nisl feugiat orci, et sodales tortor mauris eget orci.

54% 66%

tortor, arcu at tellus lobortis non blandit diam mattis. Praesent sit amet risus egemattis metus vel convallis. Donec felis mi, eleifend ut auctor tempor, egestas at lorem. Curabitur eu turpis est.

sellus egestas nulla in enim sagittis ra aliquam quis in tortor. Phasellus tellus ante, egestas a imperdiet et, vestibulum eget est. Aenean purus

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EMBRACE THE POWER OF

SOCIAL MEDIA O

uam volorum nullabore taquam commo estiaEseni ut as doluptatas voluptaquam, nobit dis nume nost, cum, si autemqui doloratur re sum es est vellaut erae voluptate nonsequisque debis nihitibus istiisSequia illam laut qua natusa For small business owners, it’s important to understand the power of social networking. Studies have proven that over 25% of the time that people spend online, they are using social networks. Out of that 25%, 80% of these users are looking for something to buy, and 50% of those users are making purchases. But the key is – they aren’t simply making purchases based on ads they see scrolling across their screens. They are making purchases based on what people in their social networks are recommending. Now it’s important to understand that Facebook alone has upwards of 600 million users. Each of these users will have their own profile, friends, and groups of people they interact with on

Many business owners are only beginning to understand the power of social media and using the social networks in order to get their products and services in front of this massive audience. But here is where the issues arise. In order to be successful using this powerful marketing tool, you will either need to understand how to use

DESCRIPTION

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a daily basis. When someone buys something they like, they talk about it. Others read about it and share it with their friends and groups. This activity replicates over and over, and over again. Now, this analogy only illustrates one person. What if thousands of people were talking about your products and recommending them to their friends? Welcome to the power of social networking.

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it yourself, or you will have to hire a service that can use it effectively. Using social networks creates brand exposure in ways never before realized. You can also use social networks for developing yourself as an authority on a specific product or service. Whichever way you choose in which to use social networks, it will require a bit of work on your part to gain the trust of the friends, followers, and connections youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be making. Using the big social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Yelp will prove to be very effective in growing your business but it begins with building a trust. In order to do this effectively, you will have to participate in communicating with friends, posting in groups, tweeting on

DESCRIPTION

a regular basis, sending out invites and connecting, and posting information about your business on message boards consistently. The power of social networks can be utilized provided you understand how to use these communication and marketing tools to the best of their abilities. If you need help in this area, there are social networking service providers that can help.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The real key to its success and popularity is that Evernote synchronizes all your files by saving them to a cloud service.â&#x20AC;?

DESCRIPTION

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AWESOME NOTE Awesome Note is one of the most visually compelling , letting users choose which colors, background images, fonts, and icons they want to use in their notes.

s the name implies, Awesome Note (+Todo) ($3.99, direct) is an iPhone app for creating notes and to-do lists. Of all the personal organization apps on Apple’s mobile devices, Awesome Note is one of the most visually compelling, letting users choose which colors, background images, fonts, and icons they want to use in their notes. It’s a treat to play with all these options, plus the app’s graphical calendar,

Summary PROS

Visual. Customizable. Graphical calendar simplifies deadline management. Syncs with Google Docs and Evernote.

CONS

Checklists are available for Quick Notes but not within memos. No way to automate migration of Lite app content to paid app.

BOTTOM LINE

Awesome Note gives list makers and task masters a more creative way to keep track of ideas and chores, with graphical customization on nearly every page. Users of the Lite version haven’t seen half of what the full version can do.

4/6 Verdict

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the rightmost side of each folder indicates how many notes are in it. The virtual folders are used to sort your notes. Dive into a folder, and Awesome Note gives you two options for creating new notes: tap the lighting and plus sign icon to make a “Quick Note” or select the lone plus symbol to draft a regular Note (see the slideshow). Quick Notes put an entry right into the folder without launching

“Awesome Note’s landing screen gives an overview of whichever folders the user chooses to place there.” while also being productive. The creators of Awesome Note (+Todo) put together a well-designed interface for their list-making and note-taking users. After you first download the app, Awesome Note sets you up with a handful of sample folders and notes. These pre-loaded notes contain information about using Awesome Note, so while you’re figuring out how to access the content, you’re also learning how to use the app. But you don’t need to read much to figure it out, as the experience is highly intuitive. Anytime you fire up the app, Awesome Note brings you to a screen with a preview of up to five folders of your choosing. You can change the colors, titles, and icons associated with these folders. A number on

a new screen, a clever way to jot down uncomplicated tasks, such as “pick up dry cleaning.” On the other hand, if you create a regular Note, Awesome Note launches a full memo pad, where you can write longer text, such as directions to a venue. Visually-oriented people will appreciate all the options Awesome Notes provides in terms of folder and note customization. Colors, icons, background images, themes, and fonts types can all be changed at any time. Every note automatically contains a title and creation date, but Awesome Note stores plenty of additional information, such as due dates, alarms for the due dates, and a priority level (indicated with stars). These aspects come in handy when you want to sort your notes by highest priority or due date.

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Evernote Premium This free, straightforward note-making app outrivals most competing apps thanks to its strong search capabilities and effortless organization.

Summary PROS

Effortless synchronization. Great search capability. Excels as a pared-down word processing app. Integrates with other iPhone apps.

CONS

Can’t create checkboxes. Austere design, no color-coding.

BOTTOM LINE

When it comes to staying organized, keeping track of ideas, and writing things down, Evernote for iPhone does the heavy lifting for you. Integrate it with one or two other apps, and you can’t do better.

5/6 Verdict

Evernote works beautifully, but its design leaves something to be desired—like a personality. The minimalistic color scheme is almost entirely black and white, with the most restrained use of light blue accent text. Version 4 has added a little bit more design, but it’s still very minimalistic, almost architectural in feel. The lack of icons, textures, graphics, and variations in fonts keeps the app extremely austere. Microsoft OneNote Mobile (free, 3 stars), which is very similar in functionality, has a bit more design and color. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Awesome Note (+Todo) exudes a cheerful and almost bubbly interface, full of color, shadows, themes, and fonts.

many months. I prefer Evernote for writing for two reasons. First, the Web and desktop versions of Evernote let me bring all those ideas that I started on the go into a fullsized desktop environment, where it’s more comfortable to finish, export, or cut and paste them into more standard file types (such as Microsoft Word). Second, the upload capacity—60MB per month for free, 1GB per month for Premium—exceeds that of many other apps, letting me store bigger files and more of them. Evernote excels when it comes to searching your notes. Evernote can find typed text, as well as text that shows up in images, including handwriting. Let’s

“The real key to its success and popularity is that Evernote synchronizes all your files by saving them to a cloud service.” If you need color coordination to stay organized or like a visual pick-me-up when working on chores, Evernote likely won’t be enough for you on its own. However, Awesome Note can actually connect with Evernote, so you don’t have to choose between the two. I use a number of note-taking applications, and I do different things with each of them. Evernote is my preferred application for actual writing (such as blogs, essays, recipes, as opposed to to-do lists) and making notes about projects that go on for

say you’re walking or driving by a new shop, and you want to jot down its name, address, and phone number. You can pop open Evernote and simply take a photo of the store’s window or awning where that information is likely to appear. Later, just search for anything you can remember about the business, either the first few digits of the phone number or the name of the business, and Evernote will find the photo. Although I’ve been able to stump Evernote’s OCR, it’s reliable on the whole.

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Overview Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Weight in pounds Width in inches Height in inches Depth in inches Side bezel width in inches

1.32 10.3 7.1 0.32 0.8

PROS

The Asus Transformer Prime sports an iPad 2-inspired design that’s even thinner and nearly as light, while also managing to include microSD and Micro-HDMI support. The Prime delivers smooth and clear 1080p video, and the 8-megapixel camera captures detail and color more accurately than any other tablet camera we’ve reviewed. Android 4.0 makes small but significant improvements to Honeycomb.

CONS

Not every game takes advantage of the quad-core CPU, and frame rates can suffer as a result. When connected to the dock keyboard, the tablet is topheavy and can easily slide off a lap or table if you’re not careful.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Design

The Prime comes in two colors, amethyst gray (gray and purple) and champagne gold (silver and gold). We got the amethyst gray version for review, and while a purple tablet admittedly wasn’t the highest item on our holiday wish list, the gray and purple are blended in a sleek, sexy, and appealing way. Although the aluminum back does a good job of resisting fingerprints, the glossy screen and bezel succumb to them easily.

“The File Manager app provides easy access to every file on your tablet.” The Prime is about an inch wider than the iPad 2 but a hair thinner; it’s also thinner than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. It’s slightly heavier than both aforementioned tablets, but its weight is distributed evenly, so we felt only a negligible difference. The Prime takes some design cues from the iPad 2, with a sloped back and rounded corners that don’t dig into our palms as the previous Transformer did. For connections,

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the Prime includes a microSD slot and a Micro-HDMI port on the left side. On the same side are a volume rocker and a microphone pinhole. On the top is a smallish power/lock button, which, though functional, could have protruded more from the chassis so as to feel more tactile. Next to that is a second microphone pinhole and on the right side is a headphone jack. A 40pin connector port for data/power is located on the bottom.

On the front bezel sits a 1.2-megapixel camera, and almost directly opposite it on the back is an 8-megapixel camera, which is capable of recording 1080p video. Like the previous Transformer, the Prime connects to an optional keyboard/dock ($150), transforming it (heh) into what is essentially an Android laptop. With the previous Transformer, that connection wasn’t the easiest to achieve, but the

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SECTION - HEAD process has improved dramatically on the Prime, as it now easily slides into the awaiting slot. The dock includes a touch pad, a 40-pin data/power connection port on the left, and a full-size SD slot and USB port on the right. Once connected, the tablet feels a bit topheavy, though, and could easily slip off a lap or table if enough care isn’t taken. Also, the dock is compatible only with the Prime and vice versa. Switching between the older Transformer and this newer one is not supported. The dock includes a touch pad, a 40-pin data/power connection port on the left, and a full-size SD slot and USB port on the right. Once connected, the tablet feels a bit topheavy, though, and could easily slip off a lap or table if enough care isn’t taken. Also, the dock is compatible only with the Prime and vice versa. Switching between the older Transformer and this newer one is not supported.

Hardware features

The Prime is the first tablet to house Nvidia’s new quad-core processor, the Tegra 3. The Prime also includes 1GB of RAM and comes in either 32GB or 64GB varieties. It has 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, a gyroscope, and GPS. The Mobile dock includes an extra battery that--while connected--”feeds” the Prime its power, meaning that the dock’s battery will deplete its reserves before the tablet’s.

Through its Micro-HDMI port, you can connect the tablet to an HDTV or monitor and play full-screen Android games using both wired Xbox 360 and PS3 game pads, as well as supported wireless game pads through the use of an USB dongle.

Software features

The Prime comes preinstalled with Honeycomb 3.2.1 and is upgradable to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Asus MyCloud gives users 8GB of free cloud-based storage space for the lifetime of the Prime (upon registering it) at Asus WebStorage. It also provides remote access to the desktop of a PC or Mac and connects you to the @Vibe online music and radio service. The File Manager accesses the Prime’s root directory, providing easy and organized access to every file on your drive or expanded memory unit. MyNet lets you stream content to DLNA-enabled devices on your network, and with MyLibrary, Asus’ e-reader software, you can read and purchase new books directly through the interface.

“The File Manager app provides easy access to every file on your tablet.”

APPS ON THE GO

Application 01

The Prime comes preinstalled with Honeycomb 3.2.1 and is upgradable to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).

Application 02

The Prime comes preinstalled with Honeycomb 3.2.1 and is upgradable to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).

With the dock attached, the Prime looks like a typical ultrabook. Well, a purple one at least.

Application 03

The Prime comes preinstalled with Honeycomb 3.2.1 and is upgradable to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).

Application 04

The Prime comes preinstalled with Honeycomb 3.2.1 and is upgradable to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).

Application 05

The Prime comes preinstalled with Honeycomb 3.2.1 and is upgradable to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).

JULY ISSUE

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