All Color, All The Time

Ever find yourself stuck in a rut with colors…or shall I say color “block?” I know I do, and I am fairly sure that this is a common problem among us designers. Never fear though — as Color Collective (CC) is here!

I recently came across CC while perusing through my daily, design digest (alliterations, for the win!). Lauren Willhite, the founder of CC, culls through a vast array of stunning photos, mostly from the fashion industry, and pulls from them a primary color palette. How genius is that? It also helps that CC is beautifully laid out, with color dots representing the selected color palette towards the bottom of every picture. What a fantastic resource for the otherwise color-bankrupt designer!

Content is $ocial Currency

Brands and publishers are creating lots of content for the web, but how much of it is really valuable? Take a look at this presentation I gave on November 8, 2010 at the Cool Social Media Gravity Summit about this very topic. Hope you find it valuable

Validating Design’s Value in Business

Ran into this great presentation on how and why design is important for business. I didn’t write it but I’m sharing it here, cause I couldn’t have said it better myself. Enjoy!

Mark’s Internet Genius of the Week 4/15/10

Mark here, with this week’s INTERNET GENIUS. I’ve been following this guy for a while because he always brings the goods. Chris Spooner of Spoon Graphics offers the best vector tutorials and free vector design files on the internet!

Ever wonder how to use that symbol sprayer tool? Or how to make those trendy color explosion in space designs? Did you ever need to make a vector panda? If you’ve answered yes to any of those questions than you’re prayers have been answered!

As busy designers we don’t always have time to jump into illustrator and create some original artwork. So chances are you’ve needed a vector doo-dad to complete your designs. Whenever that happens to me, I check out the freebies section before i even think about iStock, or dreamstime. Why pay for it, when Chris Spooner is spoon-feeding you awesome for free!

Book mark blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/ today! You won’t regret it!

The Return of the Drop Cap

he Drop Cap has long been a handy tool in the designer’s tool box, adding a subtle flourish to a layout and lead-in interest to editorial. Its been used for centuries, but I can’t remember the last time I actually used one.

Well, to ensure the drop cap doesn´t become a lost art, illustrator Jessica Hische has started Daily Drop Cap – a tumblr blog dedicated this typographic art. Each day, Jessica posts a new hand-crafted decorative initial cap and generously provides the embed code for others to beautify their own blog and sites.

‘Cause Facebook is So in Right Now

Facebook frenzy has infected the masses and we all know how great Google Analytics is. Most people use Google analytics to track traffic on their websites. But did you know that with a few simple steps, you can use it to track traffic on your Facebook fan pages too! Check out how the folks at WebDigi get it done!

Death of the Keyframe

Na, na, naaaa… Hey, hey, heeey… Gooodbye…

The beautiful video playing above was made with no keyframes at all. The animators used complex physics-driven equations and codes to create this trippy world with glowing spheres and bio-robotic plants.

Although it’s exciting to see technology advance before our eyes, one must ask the question, “What does this mean for animators?”

Are we entering a time where animation will be done solely through writing equations and defining physics parameters? Will animators go the way of the elevator-operator and soda jerk?

Will I be telling my grandkids stories about the good ol’ days when animators used to have to tell balls when to bounce? Or will we be granting Emmy nods for excellence in animation to Skynet and Agent Smith from the Matrix?

Let’s take back animation one keyframe at a time!

All the amazing color, none of the LSD!

It’s amazing how color can evoke emotions. This simple, yet stunning, animation uses only After Effects and Particular to create the whispy color trails.

More more information on Particular, or to download the trial software, click here.

Get in the Game

Above: (l-r) Maria Pacheco, Stephanie Huynh and Tameka Kee

On Thursday April 30, 2009 the IPG Emerging Media Lab hosted the latest SheSays LA event, Ms. Gamer, on women and gaming. Attendees were able to test their skills on the Wii and then settled in to hear our expert panel share their various experiences on the state of the industry and and how they first got into the game.

Maria Pacheco, of MoboGift and formerly of Vivendi Games Mobile, shared how she successfully marketed the mobile gamer, Surviving High School, and engaged users by utilizing viral tactics, including contests, quizes and Facebook widgets.

Stephanie Huynh from Denuo talked about the changing market of gaming–with tweens and teens now generally playing the same games, the lines between hardcore (typically male) and casual (female) gamers will begin to blur as audiences mature into future.

Finally, Tameka Kee from ContentNext Media presented perspectives on life and careers in the gaming industry. She shared advice from four female industry leaders on how women can enter and advance in fields related to gaming in the marketing, media and development arenas.

During the Q&A session, our panelists discussed trends in gaming and shared their personal stories on how they got into the industry and provided their own tips for the women who’d like do the same.

The fun-filled evening, sponsored by Weber Shandwick, ended with a raffle with great prizes provided by Namco Bandai. Stay tuned for details on the the next SheSays LA event, on Cause Marketing. If you’re a woman in digital marketing and advertising and would like to get more involved in SheSays LA, please contact Kim Hoang.

IAB Marketplace: Digital Video

The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) Marketplace Conference held in NYC today focused on Digital Video had provided a wealth of information related to best practices and insight from people shaping the platform’s future. Presenters included executives from Pepsi, Mindshare, R/GA and Starcom.

Take a peak at one of the panel discussions related to “Broadcast vs. Online”:

Also from our friends at IAB, this compelling video on how small publishers leverage interactive advertising is helping them achieve the American Dream: