Design tools and resources

The internet is about design. You need to know and understand what is available to help you create a good looking, informative site or web page. You need to know what tools and resources are available to you to ensure your online presentation looks good and current. Design for Founders has a section dedicated to design tools and resources. There is some really helpful information on this site.

3D Paint

 

Windows 10 is about to go 3D with its Paint programme. The video shows the sorts of things it can do even if it is a bit sugary sweet. The website is better. 3D is where it is all headed and we shall have the tools to do it which will make us think 3D instead of 2D. We are no longer the flat planet even if all our icons and interfaces have gone that way. Bit odd really, but 2D allows for greater speed and delivery and a less cluttered interface.  I am looking forward to this update and I have a 3D monitor now so all is good.

 

Windows 10 Creators Update 

So how’s Instagram going?

Another one of those technology experiences where I am now wondering why I did not do this earlier. Like B-Pay. The whole world was using B-Pay before I got onto it. Instagram has been going since the end of 2010 so 6 years later I am onto it! I am not an earlier adopter of all things technology. The last and only time I have blogged about Instagram I explained I had set my account to private as was recommended by friends and had 6 followers. Since then I have changed the setting to public and have 46 followers and pick up followers every day. Instagram is filling the art, design, graphics gap in my online world. The UX (user experience) accounts I follow are teaching me a lot about design and presentation of graphics. There are Russian women I engage with through textile art and craft and their skills are really impressive and again , I have learned a lot. The language barrier is overcome through image sharing. There is so much colour and creativity on Instagram and so I find it a really good place to go for 5 or 10 minutes when I need a brain boost. By then I am full of creative inspiration and my thoughts have taken off again. Instagram really does bring you back to the moment and valuing the things by which you are surrounded which are fuel for creative endeavour. I have also been pleased to note that the women of Instagram have some very effective and well thought out ways of dealing with what can be considered gross misrepresentation of women in the world of graphics. They are commenting on these images in such a way that the company using the images would have to rethink what on earth they were thinking. Oddly enough, or maybe even paradoxically, even though Instagram is image based there is more being done to set right stereo types and gender profiling on that platform than on any other. Firm but fair stuff. Instagram is also the place where people find their niche. There are car and tram enthusiasts, train lovers, coffee connoisseurs, cat adorers. If you love something and are enthusiastic about it you can share your images and then find those who are like you. I would never have thought Instagram would be so positive. For businesses and organisations you get to see inside the offices and what’s on people’s desks and the views they have. You can see a meeting in progress or how they are processing their thoughts and action plans. It is really great and always gets enthusiastic feedback. And that’s the thing. Any image will immediately get effective feedback which is short , sweet and to the point but, in my experience, never rude or impolite. Suggestions for improvement are always offered in a spirit of well thought out ideas. My first 6 months on Instagram has been a real voyage of discovery. From here on in I can capitalise on that.

Frame it !

The site VIP TALISMAN has over 6000 really good photo effects so you can frame images and create custom albums if you wish. It’s free and runs in several languages. I alert you to the fact that the men’s photo section has some semi clad but not horrendous women and the women’s section has hundreds of  lovely floral images. If it weren’t for the stereotyping of women it would be a safe site for students to use. Adult supervision and input needed I would think. They have probably seen a lot worse on TV or elsewhere on other internet sites but that is not the point. A great site which I use to upgrade my own images but letting the team down by gender stereotyping and representation. I went to the men’s section to get this cool car.

Add fireworks to your images

Because everyone needs to know how to add fireworks to their images. New Year’s Eve is coming. Ten minutes well spent if you want to know how to do this.