Why i’m giving away free photos and how to get more

Months before i decided to give stock agencies one last try (which if you read the previous post know it turned out pretty bad) i created a Flickr account. At the time, I was preparing to close up a website i had used for a couple of years to host my photos and obviously i was looking for another place to showcase them. Luckily, I’m long past the stage where i feel the need to protect my files with huge watermarks or post only small resolution versions. That’s why i went in the entire opposite direction by licensing them under Creative Commons Attribution and uploading the highest resolution available. Somewhere along the line i learned that sharing and helping others find content without particularly expecting anything in return can be just as rewarding if not more, rather than keeping them all hidden or selling them for prices that are downright insulting.

While I’m not a professional photographer, I’ve been doing this for quite a while now and for an amateur, I’ve certainly gathered quite a bit of experience. Although I take my camera bag just about everywhere, especially during trips and holidays, i do like to think of myself as a designer. Photography is just an added bonus and a nice way to help remember the places I’ve seen or strengthen my awareness of the world around me.

So why did i decide to make my photos available for free? Here are just a few reasons:

  • believe it or not, i very much enjoy seeing all the various ways in which my work can be remixed by others or simply used within their websites. It’s really inspiring and it certainly helps you get new ideas as well as insight into what kind of content people really need. It’s like an ongoing effortless brainstorming.
  • there are plenty of situations where paying for images on a daily/post basis wouldn’t simply make sense money wise. This is particularly true with blogs and other websites that aren’t really profit oriented. It always nice to see that your work enlivens an article or helps illustrate a certain topic.
  • every bit of exposure is welcomed. Besides, keeping all these images to myself would definitely help no one, not even myself.
  • when having to choose between selling your photos for literally 30 cents or giving them away for free, i prefer the latter option. For some “strange” reason, I’m thinking that any web service which endorses such low prices for a product with a relatively low average number of sales is clearly taking advantage of its contributors.  It’s simple arithmetic which shows that those tens of millions of dollars paid to photographers often mean a yearly income of less than 10 bucks per image.
  • i simply can’t stand supporting companies that have proven time and time again to be extremely arrogant and disrespectful to the very same people on whom they depend for their livelihood. It’s extremely distasteful using strength in numbers to bully users into unconditionally accept their rules. I also have a hard time buying into the whole “have the photographers’ best interest in mind” when the agency’s taking up to 80% of the income. Now that’s a percentage that would make even Steve Jobs jealous.

While I’m pretty confident about my decision to avoid any photo agencies from now on, i’m also quite aware that Flickr is generating no revenues whatsoever. As a result, increasing the frequency with which I can upload content will be limited just like it always has. Also, as you’ve probably noticed, I’m not a big fan of cluttering the pages with ads, nor have i found them to be effective. The affiliate banners currently present on this blog are more of a way of saying “Thank you!” to two products/services I’ve enjoyed for quite a while now and have really helped me when i really needed it.

That’s why I’m wondering if allowing donations wouldn’t be in everyone’s best interests. Here’s why i think if could be useful to the users:

  • as of this writing my Flickr photostream stands at over 1300 Creative Commons photos with several hundred to be uploaded in the next couple of months. Most of these files are 10-12 mpx and can fit a large number of use case scenarios. In fact they’ve already been employed in a significant number of projects (blogs, online and print publications, expo artworks etc)
  • if you were to spend 5-10 bucks on a stock agency’s website, you would get several extra small files or a large one. Since most of my photo sessions result in anything from tens to hundreds of images (depending whether it’s a concept, macro, travel etc) this can prove to be quite a sound investment over time.
  • donations can go into supporting equipment upgrades or exploring further concepts that would otherwise go outside the scope of a hobby (both as far as time and money are concerned). Just like before, suggestions and requests are seriously considered and highly appreciated. The only difference is in the means available to fulfill those wishes.
  • while you’re helping yourself by having access to a constantly growing array of files (both photos and video clips) you’re also helping non profit entities that otherwise would not be able to afford paying for such services and might eventually back out or opt for lower grade content.

With that in mind, I’d really love hearing your thoughts on this idea. What is the type of content you’d most likely be interested in seeing posted both on Flickr and on this blog? Also, what would you feel about a donation based system? Are any of the advantages mentioned above relevant to your own situation? Looking forward to hearing your feedback.

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Why i finally gave up on stock photo agencies

A few years ago, back when microstock agencies were still relatively in their infancy boasting “only” 1-2 millions photos, i decided to join such a service as a contributor. At the time, i naively believed in the “get rich fast by selling your content” scheme. Armed with a bridge camera which spit out files you would get today with any average mobile phone i set out on a mission to conquer the world of online photography. Several dozen rejections later, with only two images accepted, i got annoyed and decided it wasn’t worth it.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago. I finally succumbed to one of my friends’ propaganda about another stock agency he had been using for quite a while. Unlike the first time, i joined more out of curiosity, since i knew that with very few exceptions the financial gains are quite laughable. Another reason which made me pick that particular service was an apparent respect for contributors, reflected by their rather generous commission percentages when compared to other services on the market. About a month later, i was already contacting support asking them to close my account. So what really happened in the meantime that made me go from hopeful curiosity to complete discontent?

Here are just a few of the issues which i encountered during that short period which, when reported to their support department, were met with standard phrases as fake and plasticky as a magazine cover:

  • downright appalling feedback accompanying rejected images. Based on their own documentation, any file would be under scrutiny for anything from 1 to 24 hours. However, they would not spend a couple of minutes (at most) to clarify whether the issues were irremediable or otherwise suggest the changes that would help validate the photo. Instead, you would get the same tired responses taken from a short list of messages that seldom provided any valuable input. Take lack of composition for example which meant anything from improper framing and cluttered scenes to alleged incorrect contrast between two adjacent colors (as later clarified by one of their staff members).
  • inconsistent acceptance behavior to the point of absurdity. While i appreciate a fine critique any day of the week, some of those rejections came right out of the blue. At some point i even stopped caring and just became curious just how far can they go. While i can understand subjective reasoning, i do have a problem when it comes to technical issues which are easily quantifiable and thus can be assessed consistently by multiple editors. Softness, noise and exposure are just a couple of the things which despite their mathematical nature were more down to luck. As for their take on white balance, i can only think of the sunrise and sunset sections. Then, there were always the “not what we’re looking for”, “not stock material” and “too many similar items” kindly accompanied by a patronizing advice guiding you back to the study room. As if my skill as a photographer would depend on the amount of flower photos in their database.
  • overall useless customer service and improperly trained staff. The way i see it the purpose of human based client support is to provide a live conversation on any issues that might arise regarding the product, which should conclude with a practical outcome. Had i wanted to read lines from a manual, i could do just that without wasting precious time writing emails. I’m not stupid enough to get all warm and cuddly when reading that someone cares a lot about my feedback. Of course, there’s a whole other ball game when you get rejections based on “improper keywording”, only to have it accepted upon complaining. You would imagine that a leading web service would spend more time ensuring their staff meets the basic requirements for the job. Receiving stuck up, insulting responses a week after submitting a question doesn’t help either.
  • conflicts of interests and censorship. This might really be nothing but i tend to be a little suspicious when the person accepting my submissions is also competing head to head for sales. Then again, there’s the “recommendation” not to discuss specific issues about the service on any public online outlets. I for one have a very low tolerance for marching with a fist deep in my mouth and even a lower one for accepting an idiotic state of affairs with or without an explanation. As a contributor based system, you have a responsibility both to your clients and your contributors and limiting anyone of those’ ability to express their views is a deal breaker as far as I’m concerned.
  • unfair terms of service. The great thing about it, is that i finally learned my lesson as to read the entire Terms of Service and any other attached documents (as hideously long and redundant as they often are) before accepting anything. Unfortunately, it happened right when i decided to close my account (what looked like a bug in the Sell the Rights feature helped me made up my mind). Some of the rather disturbing stipulations i missed the first time were the inability to close your account or remove all files earlier than 6 months. You’d imagine that a service boasting several million photos wouldn’t mind loosing 50 files. You’d be wrong. Remember that they are a company which is only interested in making a profit, so nothing is too out of line if it doesn’t affect the user base. Giving them the benefit of the doubt or trusting their good intentions is either naive or stupid depending on your choice of words.
  • lack of transparency and lies regarding the things influencing the search results standings. As a designer, i see the search feature on any stock agency’s website as their most valuable asset when it comes to selling their content. It only matters if it’s effective in helping me find the right content in as little time as possible, without having to try every possible keyword combination in the book. I honestly don’t care about who’s the photographer, what’s his track record, if he’s “harassed” the support department with emails or if he has a high rejection ratio. These are all things which the service should take care internally, without affecting the quality of results and wasting the clients’ time by trying to punish a punk contributor. If you couple this complete lack of transparency with the fact that a lot of editors are also top contributors, it really makes you doubt their integrity.

Still, at the end of the day, as far as most users are concerned, the check is all that matters. Does it really pay that good for the average contributor to make up for the time lost editing, uploading and keywording the files? I honestly doubt it. For me at least it didn’t. Of course, I’ve heard success stories of users making 10-20k or more a month, but let’s face it, that’s hardly the kid toying with his camera type of user. These are probably (semi)professional photographers who have ready access to a studio, props, models and equipment most amateurs can only dream of. For the rest there’s the joy (?) of making a hundred bucks every other month.

If these are all things you can stomach, then by all means go ahead and share your content with the world. After all, without inexpensive high quality photographic content, a designer’s job would be both harder and more costly. Still, a more constructive and transparent attitude from the agencies would certainly improve the overall experience for all parties involved. I for one am done with microstock and focusing my efforts into providing free photography via Flickr. More details to follow soon.

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Free shamrock leaves and horseshoe seamless pattern, Twitter backgrounds

Seamless patterns for Twitter of green shamrock with three or four leaves and horseshoe

Almost a dozen shamrock seamless patterns that can be used as Twitter backgrounds, made from a number of carefully tweaked shamrock and horseshoe symbols. You’ll find two types of patterns: one like that featured in the picture above and another which uses a combination of a three and four leaf symbols in a repeating or alternating manner. All ten shamrock shapes have been saved as swatches along with the horseshoe and a simple green Irish hat. Due to their nature, you can easily tweak the patterns for an endless number of variations.

In one of the archive at the end of this post you’ll find several variations of the example above either with different background colors and/or object colors saved as PNG that you can use directly on your Twitter account.

If you’re interested in using this illustration, please check the licensing page on this blog. You’re allowed to include it in both personal and commercial projects. While, you shouldn’t redistribute it or link directly to the file, you can link to this post instead. Although not required, it would be nice to tweet back to this blog post, if you decide to use them as backgrounds for your account.

To download the source file archive click here.
To download the various ready to use exports archive click here.

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Free logo designs for seaside travel agencies, beach bars or equipment rentals

Free beach bar, cafe or summer holiday travel agency logo downloads

While working on this set of free logos I tried to incorporate visual elements that remind you of the sea, the sun and palm leaves. The idea was to make it work for a large range of situations related to the summer vacations at the seaside. With that in mind, you could use the designs for anything ranging from a beach stand, small bar or cafe to a surfing equipment rental shop or even a travel agency specializing in tropical destinations.

Since it’s always easier to add things rather then remove unnecessary visual effects, I’ve kept them simple, without any gradients, relying solely on the shapes and hues in order to make them easy to spot and remember. The colors chosen this time reflect the water, vegetation and warmth of a summer day.

As far as suggested typography goes, depending on your main target, you’re most likely to lean towards a novelty or display typeface rather than the usual sans serif corporate ones you see everywhere these days. The font should help convey ideas such as freedom, relaxation, fun, youth, friendliness and so on.

Some examples of typefaces i’d try are:

  • commercial faces – Linotype Spitz Light or Book, MVB Calliope Regular, Mano Regular or Clever Duke BTN;
  • free faces – Yanone Kaffeesatz, Banksia, SeasideResortNF, Worstveld Sling;

If you’re interested in using any of these ideas, please also check the licensing page on this blog. You’re allowed to use then as your own identity but it’s forbidden to register them as trademarks by either you or your clients. While, you shouldn’t redistribute them (either as part of derivative works or in whole) or link directly to the file, you can link to this post instead.

To download the archive click here.

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Jigsaw puzzle of falling dollar with alternating star pattern

Jigsaw puzzle of falling dollar with alternating star pattern

An illustration based on the theme of the alleged devaluation of the dollar. It includes an almost solved square jigsaw puzzle with 25 pieces recreating the image of the world’s leading currency seen falling from the sky. Next to it there’s the central missing item with the words “Game Over” written in the middle. In the background there is a seamless pattern made from alternating dollar signs and five pointed stars on a red surface.

The S symbol has been completely redesigned from the initial version of the illustration, and the various graphic styles and effects have been stripped to a minimum to improve compatibility. Also, the tiled pattern has been added along with a couple more variations saved as swatches. You can use it as a whole to illustrate various news posts about the current ongoing economic crisis or you can break it down and use either the patterns or the jigsaw shapes in your own designs.

If you’re interested in using this illustration, please check the licensing page on this blog. You’re allowed to include it in both personal and commercial projects. However, given the nature of the design, bear in mind that you are not allowed to use it for mass distribution (t-shirt sales etc) and you should contact me should that be the case. While, you mustn’t redistribute it or link directly to the file, you can link to this post instead. Attribution is required.

To download the archive click here.

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Backdrop Lights – free minimalist Wordpress theme for photo bloggers

It’s fairly common knowledge that when it comes to displaying digital photography, either offline or online, less is more. Some photographers even go as far as suggesting that you should go with a grayscale palette or at the very least use desaturated colors. While that would certainly work in the best interest of the images, it might also bring about some usability issues which could make such a website an unfriendly place and deter the visitors from exploring it further.

Since I’m not a fan of the extremes, i set out to design a Wordpress theme that would be both simple and easy to navigate, while also putting the photographs center stage. That’s why things such as complex gradients and textures were discarded in exchange for some clear typography in bright colors, all laid out using a 960px wide grid system on a dark background. Despite  some statistics pointing towards a two column layout as the most popular choice among bloggers, i went against the trend due to several reasons such as:

  • there’s something that simply doesn’t feel right about an endless sidebar;
  • a narrow main column improves readability by limiting the number of words on each line to what’s usually the recommended value for proper typography;
  • it also helps better accommodate photos both in landscape and portrait mode;
  • allows to display a significantly larger amount of navigation elements above the fold;
  • provides more flexibility when including ads of different sizes.

During the design process, there were two main aspects i had to concentrate on: colors and typography. Pretty much from the get go, i knew i wanted to use a nice cyan hue along with yellow. That’s how it wasn’t long before i settled on a CMYK inspired palette. Furthermore, it was essential to keep the colors in check, using as few as possible, while also maintaining a certain logic. For example cyan ended up being used for links, while magenta would signify visited pages mainly because of their relative resemblance to the classic blue and purple choices. On the other hand, yellow stands mostly for static headings.

As a fan of typography, i wanted to use something different from the usual web safe fonts. Also, it was essential to find a condensed looking typeface that would take the least amount of space even for longer headings at larger sizes. While i like League Gothic a lot, it didn’t fit right for this particular instance. Several searches later i found Miso which is free and comes in three weights. Its geometric and neutral appearance means it doesn’t have such a strong personality that could otherwise interfere with the rest of the page elements. Still, it has clarity and elegance, which combined with the other qualities make it suitable for a wide array of uses.

Backdrop Lights Wordpress theme screenshot

Besides designing the core elements you will also find ready made styles for some of the widgets/plugins I’m currently using on this website: Better Tag Cloud, Contact Form 7, Flickr Widget and Wickett Twitter Widget. For all the extra elements not included, you could go ahead and try to further customize it to your own needs: adding a logo, changing the header background or its height, using different colors, moving the widgets around and I’m sure the list could go on.

Normally, you should be able to simply upload it into your themes folder and activate it. There are three widget areas: the two sidebars and the footer. Having worked as a web developer for quite some time now, I’m not too keen on having things hardcoded into the interface. That’s why having a widget into the footer area made more sense, as it allowed mixing blocks of text maybe with the blogroll, latest comments or the calendar without any extra programming. After activating the theme, you will however need to reposition your widget into their respective areas. While it appears they are saved into the Inactive panel, it wouldn’t hurt to manually back-up any custom code.

Bear in mind that while the actual programing code is licensed just like Wordpress under GNU General Public License, version 2, the CSS, font and image files are not. You are free to use them (as part of this theme) in both personal and commercial websites. However, you are not allowed to redistribute them in any way or link directly to the archive file(s) without prior written consent. Also you must not remove the credit/copyright message from the footer. While further attribution is not required, if you enjoy using this template, you might consider letting people know about it, so others can benefit from it as well. In that respect, it’s only fair to thank Theme Shaper for their wonderful tutorial on Wordpress theme design.

Feel free to leave any comments or questions about this theme below. Should there be any interesting suggestions for improvement or things that i might have missed, I’ll try and update the files based on your feedback. Also don’t shy away from mentioning what kind of theme i should try next.

Click here to download the theme and here for a set of ten extra header backgrounds.

Posted in Free Wordpress themes and web templates | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Complete Color Index or where to find the right color schemes

For some strange reason, i have a hard time using websites as a source of inspiration. Time and time again, i seem to be drawn back to printed materials or at least electronic versions of books. I know this might make me a bit eco-unfriendly, yet it evens out by not wasting a blank piece of paper every time i have to write something down or doodle when bored.

In those cases when you’re dealing with color, using a printed proof for reference becomes a requirement rather than a simple suggestion. It’s common knowledge that this is a very tricky subject to handle while working on a computer, unless you’re relying on top of the line monitors and calibration tools. Still, spending several thousand euros on this type of equipment might not be such an easy thing to do for a lot of designers, especially dealing with lower budgets, increasing prices and tougher competition. Imagine creating a logo or a website template that looks great on your display, but fails to impress when viewed on other computers. Of course, you won’t be able to control all viewing conditions, but it doesn’t hurt to be confident in your choice. I had to deal with similar situations in the past and i know the amount of stress, confusion/misunderstanding and wasted time a wrong chromatic choice brings to a project.

Following one of these unhappy incidents, i decided to look for a good book that will help me make the best color choices, while also saving plenty of time otherwise spent browsing websites such as Kuler or colourlovers.com. After searching online for a while, i settled on Jim Krause’s Complete Color Index which is in fact an elegant and handy repack of the two previously released Color Index volumes. The box itself looks really nice, does a great job in protecting the contents (as in the case of the shipment from hell) and is a clear indication of the quality of the two books it contains. Each of these serves a different purpose, based on their unique structure. You might try and use them at the same time, but more often then not it’s likely to find yourself going one route or the other. From my experience so far, i can wholeheartedly say they’re quite high on the list of tools every designer should use. They’re fun to browse and give you instant access to a combined number of over 2600 color combinations with both CMYK and RGB formulas.

Color Index was originally published in 2002 and is structured under several themes, which proves to be a real help when you’re looking for an appropriate palette to complement a predetermined concept. The main areas of interest are Active, Quiet, Progressive, Rich, Muted, Culture/Era, Natural and Accent. You’ll also find an introductory section about the fundamentals of color along with a couple of ending chapters on chromatic choices for logos and browser safe palettes (which although obsolete at this point, look surprisingly good in print). Every one of the major themes starts with a short intro, which gives you some basic info about the subject at hand as well as further ideas on where and how to discover more hues on your own. Each sub chapter, practically a specific niche, starts with a color wheel, used in creating the actual combinations. Every example contains the actual color as vertical bars, a pattern, a small clipart icon and the CMYK and RGB codes. There are also (more or less randomly) spread across the book, some additional written considerations on various topics regarding the acquisition and use of color.

Color Index 2 comes 5 years after the original one and includes a different approach. Rather then focusing on a specific idea, it simply shows more elaborate color schemes based on a dominant hue. This time, the chapters are Blue, Violet, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and Mixed. Each is subjected to the major harmony rules common in color theory. Unlike the first one, where there’s a maximum number of 4 colors for each example, here there are plenty of five color combinations which give you some extra breathing room for complex projects. The second volume comes in handy when the client has already settled on a specific color and you’re simply looking for something to work with it, such as the case of a background or contrasting color.

Given the fact that you’re likely to encounter both types of scenarios in your real life, it’s hard to say which one of the two will get more attention. That’s why buying them together makes more sense. Plus, you can hardly call them expensive.  They’re great for helping you enhance your color knowledge and simplifying the decision making process, while also turning it into an underlying skill. On the other hand, if you have a strong personality or simply are a little picky, you can use them as a quick source of inspiration or a starting point for further exploration. Either way it will save you plenty of spare time you would otherwise waste online weeding out amateur schemes from those created by professional designers.

If you’re doing logo/identity design or any print work, then this box should really be right there on your desk, next to the IPS display and the attached colorimeter. You’ll soon realize that unless your monitor has a wide gamut, the colors you’ll see on your screen will not match those printed on paper, even after calibration. I personally experienced this even though the reported delta E value is well within acceptable range.

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Why i should have canceled this website redesign project

Last autumn, we were approached by a multinational company to redesign their website. At the time, taking the project felt like a good idea: it came as a recommendation from an acquaintance, those in charge seemed like nice people and the tight deadline felt like another proof they were determined to work with us in developing a modern online presence. I also liked the fact they prided themselves on being professionals who treasure honesty and good work ethics. About a half a year later and plenty of work down the drain, i know for sure that was just a bunch of baloney that corporate people say just because it makes them feel special.

It’s disappointing that after the initial meeting, all went downhill. It just got worse from then on and i should have canceled the project on numerous occasions. However, i tried to stick to it, knowing that once complete, it would not only look great, but actually look and perform better than the version they were using for their corporate headquarters. While in retrospect it feels like all the warning signs were there in plain view, it’s certainly a different thing when you’re caught in the moment. Hopefully, this will help others avoid making the same mistakes.

Before i go on about the red flags which you might want to avoid, should you spot them early on in the game, let’s get to know our characters a little bit. During this roughly six months period i had to deal with a couple of “managers”. Their rather opposite personalities meant they would often clash, wasting a lot of time on unimportant details and often forgetting significant ones which were previously discussed and agreed upon. The big boss had an awkward way of appearing light headed most of the time, which he tried to mask by a certain arrogance and fake seriousness. The assistant, on the other hand, seemed like a man child projecting the image of a saint always willing to help and empathize with you. Unfortunately, that was just a front for his remarkable talent to lie to you while wearing an innocent poker face. It was a soft case of good cop bad cop which occasionally would turn into a sedated version of Stanley and Oliver. Their lack of knowledge about their company and the means to motivate potential clients is certainly a testament of their ignorance.

Despite stressing how important it was to have the website completed in less than a month, it took them just about the same time to get back to us and sign the contract. Of course, the delay was motivated by an impromptu vacation. Following this, it took them another two weeks plus several phone calls and a couple of invoices lost in the mail to confirm the down payment. Still, more offensive was that they expected to develop the project just on good faith. I seldom do it for people i know for a very long time, let alone for those i barely met.

With this out of the way, the first major issue was building the brief. Up to this day, i believe these two individuals still don’t have a clue about why they need a good website and how it should be structured so that it would increase their sales. This is also why they had no idea what content to include or how it should be different from the antiquated version they already had – copy paste just doesn’t cut it anymore. Although they specifically requested that the website be CMS based, two meetings and several hours of examples later, they still couldn’t make the difference between a normal page and a custom programmed section. This eventually lead them to mistakenly believe the website was still in development, although both the programming and the design were complete. Needless to say, it was futile to debate this issue, since it took them over six months to finalize the content for a couple dozen pages. I guess it’s no surprise by now that the cloudiness in their judgment reflected in their inability to establish an international brand on a local market.

While i stand corrected for arriving quite late at our first meeting, after they unexpectedly decided to change the location, they sure made up for it in the long run. Would a respectable professional manager set an appointment and then make you wait a couple of hours without any sign, only to call later that day and use a schoolboy’s excuse? Would they call you and then have you wait several hours before the general manager showed up? How about blaming the developer for the lack of content uploaded and finally admitting that it was their own fault?

Yet, probably the most despicable thing was their complete lack of respect for our time. Otherwise, why on earth would they request revisions and set appointments, if they weren’t willing to honor their part of the bargain. It was a totally uncalled for attitude, which only a true sociopath would be able to display. However, karma’s a bitch and stupidity is even more dangerous. Point in case, as i checked their website today just out of curiosity, there it was with a brand new face lift that would make any designer stamp their feet in shame. While it’s clear that it wasn’t just a regional change, i still have my doubts why they did it. Instead of looking worthy of a multinational corporation represented in over ten countries, it looks like a design exercise gone bad, put together in a rush by a newly recruited intern who’s yet to learn the basics and obviously lacking any native aesthetics. In case you are wondering here are just a couple of the obvious mistakes i was able to spot:

  • seriously misaligned elements and inconsistent alignment patterns (either left, centered or right without a particular reason for it);
  • poor spacing and padding between and inside the elements. Just like in the previous version of the website, there was no grid system used which resulted in width and height inconsistency along with unnecessary white space or lack of;
  • horrendous typography. While the web may still need a year or two before it becomes type friendly, this doesn’t mean you can’t apply all the other principles to a web safe font. There’s no sense of hierarchy and again the text looks like it has been copy pasted with no subsequent styling. With so little attention to details, there’s no wonder why the content is riddled with grammar mistakes, inadequate translations and stereotypical ideas;
  • they didn’t even bother to make sure that the rounded corners of the header blend in with the background of the page.

From this dreadful working experience i take a couple of hard earned lessons: you should never sell yourself short nor should you tolerate others’ disrespect towards you or your work. I’ve also learned that it’s never too late to reassess a project and call it quits, if it’s not in the best interest of both parties. Often, lack of focus or interest is both contagious and hardly ever gets corrected during the span of a project. In the end, dragging your client along when their mind’s not into it, will bring frustration, stress and obviously increase costs which you may or may not recover.

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Free hearts patterns, twitter backgrounds and vector graphics

Seamless twitter pattern of candy colored hearts of various shapes and sizes

Over a dozen variations of a seamless heart pattern that can be used as a Twitter background, made from a number of carefully tweaked heart symbols. You’ll find two types of patterns: one like that featured in the above pic, with the icons as well as the background of various colors and another which uses one or two symbols in a repeating or alternating manner. There are also included five swatch groups mostly consisting of analogous red hues. Some of them work well as highlight or main colors while the lighter ones are preferred for the background. The initial set of shapes is also saved as swatches in two versions (a complete and a broken heart).

In one of the archive at the end of this post you’ll find several variations of the example above either with different background colors and/or object colors saved as PNG that you can use directly on your Twitter account.

If you’re interested in using this illustration, please check the licensing page on this blog. You’re allowed to include it in both personal and commercial projects. While, you shouldn’t redistribute it or link directly to the file, you can link to this post instead. Although not required, it would be nice to tweet back to this blog post, if you decide to use them as backgrounds for your account.

To download the source file archive click here.
To download the various ready to use exports archive click here.

Posted in Free Vector Graphics Downloads | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fanboys beware! This apple might have become rotten

I honestly didn’t mean to write this post about the glossy forbidden fruit. Yet, a good friend of mine, Apple fangirl nonetheless, dared me to do it (in an almost Biblical twist), secretly hoping i would give her some slack afterward. Since this isn’t science or religion (I’m not an expert in Appletology nor do i preach the iGospel) i might make mistakes in how i perceive this corporation but since perception is often a more important factor than the cold hard facts all should be forgiven.

While I’ve yet to own any Apple product, I’ve had enough experiences (mostly unpleasant) with plenty of their notebooks, desktops and devices to make an idea about what works and what doesn’t. As far as I’m concerned, Apple does two things for which they’re mostly respected: computers and iDevices. So let’s see what’s so special about them.

They are often regarded as a hardware company which to my own standards is a big mistake and an even bigger mislead. Despite certain standout products, I’m not a fan of their hardware. It’s true their Cinema Display looks nice, just as their keyboards and the Magic Mice bring a touch of class to desks around the world. However, how’s it possible to sell computers with often outdated specs, sometimes by a year or more at 150-200% the price of regular PCs and justify it by the fact that the OS will work just fine? How will a video card that’s already twelve months old, be able to play games a year from now?

Probably, I’m so adamant to buying in on Apple’s “hardware doesn’t matter, it’s all in the OS” bullshit because plenty of my experiences with Mac OS X have been on lower end MacBook and MacBook Air machines. Here you’ll find that multitasking is not their forte and not even the best programming minds can’t make up for lack of processing power and memory.

If that’s not the case, then why on earth would users go into (lately not) so much trouble of setting up a Hackintosh machine? Why does this happen with owners of Apple computers as well? My educated guess is they want the freedom and power of an up to date PC with the ease of use and speed of the Mac OS X. However, i think that the gap between OS X 10.6 and Windows 7 in terms of performance has narrowed significantly, so much so that even the highly enjoyable Mac vs. PC ads are being canceled. I guess it’s obvious by now that Apple uses their highly regarded operating system to sell good looking yet shamelessly overpriced hardware. How would you feel for example if Microsoft used their pseudo-monopoly to do the same thing, or invented some phony “hardware independent OS” tax. Of course, everyone would be suing them left and right. However, you won’t see that in the Apple fanboy camp.  They’ll take it anytime like the velvet masochists that most of them are. Or as one of the illuminated minds pointed out in a forum he’ll be buying it and laugh about it while referring to the camera connection kit for the iPad. It sure is funny paying $30 for a $2 buck cable.

I think what brings insult to injury is not that the OS is marketed as inexpensive, yet it’s only available on overpriced hardware, nor that Service Pack material is sold as the next great wild cat, but rather that they are always testing the waters and see just how much they can push it. Why should i support a company that is using me as a lab rat and displays a patronizing attitude towards its customers? I’m sorry but I’d rather be uncool, unshiny and boring than develop symptoms of the Stockholm syndrome for someone who’s preaching excellence and in reality follows the “just enough to get by” agenda.

For the strangest of reasons, whenever there’s a showdown between Apple and Microsoft there are always double standards galore. It might be that the latter has become so annoying in our collective consciousness that it’s almost trendy to hate, while the prince in white shiny plastic armor is out to rescue us. I’m more inclined to believe that we are biased towards beauty and ready to take more crap if it’s presented within the right packaging. Let’s be honest, you’re most likely to succumb to the whims of a good looking chick than to the requests of a common looking girl.

Also, naming Adobe (who certainly have their faults) as lazy seems highly hypocritical knowing that your own company is no better. How else could they be labeled, given the extremely limited number of variations in their own hardware? Again, what would people think of Microsoft or any Linux distro for that matter, had they supported only a handful of CPUs, motherboards and video cards. Linux especially has been bashed time and time again for the lack of device drivers, even though they come free and don’t require proprietary hardware.

Another thing that struck me as shameless was the report of Apple using child labor in Asian countries. That shouldn’t come as a surprise knowing that’s a practice employed by most corporations in their quest for lower prices. Yet, it’s striking to see a pious Buddhist preaching beauty and knowledge, promoting green technologies and a clean world, while practically using modern day slavery. One more reason for me to behave in this world, otherwise i might be assembling iPods Thought Yocto in my next life as a way to pay off my karmic debt.

But wait, Apple also builds devices and it’s become just as popular if not more in this field as well. Somehow, i never got caught up by the iPod movement and instead went for a lovely Cowon D2+. While again, it’s not as sleek and trendy looking, it’s also very sturdy, sounds amazing and has a huge battery life. I”m also trying to figure out how to replicate that mysterious  “hard way” of copying files to the device displayed in some online tests, since I’ve only been able to use that simple drag and drop/copy paste so far.

And then there’s the iPhone and its slightly more developed twin brother the iPad. It would be absurd to ignore how much easier web browsing really is on these devices than it is on regular phones. However, they are plagued by the same pattern of substandard tech specs. Thankfully, the original iPhone is no longer available, yet the other two aren’t exactly top of the line either. For example a 3 megapixel camera is not that hot, considering there are lots of regular mobile phone with 5-8 MPs as well. They do compensate for all this slackness with their App Store, which as dubiously curated as it is, still provides plenty of interesting software enhancements. As far as the iPad is concerned it doesn’t make sense for it to be referred as a computer. An ebook reader or a larger web browsing tablet device yes, but as long as the OS is pretty much that of a mobile phone and it can’t run full fledged desktop apps, then it certainly seems misleading to name it a computer.

Of course, i saved the best (so far) for last: the iPhone OS 4 with it’s shady 3.3.1 clause. Unless Apple feels like it’s on Survivor 24/7 some of their latest actions would put Mariano or Fairplay to shame. Hitting a company that indirectly boosted your sales the way Adobe did with their design software products, shows not only a serious lack of character but also a very dangerous cut throat and “do whatever it takes for money” attitude. If they can do it to someone on which they at least remotely depend on, why wouldn’t they do it to their customers as well?

They just did. Leaving Adobe aside, think about all the developers who spent generous amounts of time and money developing apps only to find out one day, they have to start from scratch. Now that should be a cold wakening shower for even the biggest developer fanboys out there. To support Apple after being screwed up like that definitely strips them of their right to complain. For example, just the other day i was reading a post about a developer whose analog clock app has been rejected from the App Store. Besides the fact that buying an iPad to use it as a desk clock seems a little strange, I’m not surprised by the outcome and neither the developer should be. After all, if you plan on dating the bad boys and girls of the computer world then you should account for the possibility of having your heart broken. Yet, the problem lies not with the techies, who despite their inherent geekiness which makes them do irrational things at times, have a limited level of tolerance to corporate bullshit. Instead, Apple thrives on the stupidity and ignorance of the masses and they do it brilliantly.

What most people don’t understand is that at the end of the day Apple is a corporation whose sole purpose is to make as much profit as possible. They’re not these renegade wiz kids fueled by their passion for beauty and state of the art technology. That might be the case with individual employees but certainly isn’t with the company as a whole. One principle that Apple surely excels in following is “Divide and Conquer”. While other companies struggle to offer the widest possible lines of products, they simply focus on  several variations at a time making it both cheaper to built and easier for consumers to choose. They’re as close to Seinfeld’s dream of a world with only one type of suit available, as we’ve come so far.

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