For the past 3 weeks, our friends from ustwo™ have been working on a radical new iPhone app with the latest member of the team, Jack McLean – a 16-year old work experience student. Here are all the details of the incredible story and an exclusive interview with Jack.

Having recently finished his GCSEs, and unlike most teenagers over the summer holidays, Jack intended to spend his free time doing work experience, making sure his dreams of becoming a famous iPhone app developer became a reality.  In just 3 weeks he developed, produced and launched Terry Touch™ – with some help from the team at ustwo™.

The premise of the app is simple: Tap, Slide, Glide or Spin your way to the top of the leader board. Terry Touch™ is a finger tapping, nerve-shattering game designed to push your touch skills to a new level. Compete using the 4 simple games to beat your best score and don’t let Terry Touch down!

Jack McLean, the creator of Terry Touch™, says, “It was the best 3 weeks I have had! Working alongside fantastic developers and designers was like a dream. I learnt more from creating Terry Touch than I would have learnt from 3 months in a computing lesson, and it was fun! It’s so exciting to be involved with an inspiring company and work with them throughout the creation and release of an iPhone application.”

Mills, Creative Director at ustwo™, adds “We constantly want to innovate and experiment with our publishing’s and Terry Touch™ showcases our willingness to be at the forefront of this experimentation. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for any kid of Jack’s age to be given the chance to do commercial work during a placement, and Jack has gone above and beyond our expectations with his phenomenal dedication to Terry Touch™.”

Jack first impressed ustwo™ back in Nov 2008 by creating his own successful iPhone application, aged just 14 years. The free ‘Countdown to Christmas’ app has been downloaded125,286 downloads since launch, and used mobile advertising to rake in enough profit for Jack to buy a MacBook Pro.

Terry Touch™ is FREE to download from the iTunes App Store now

Most of your school friends did work experience in banks, newsagents and supermarkets but you chose to work for a iPhone app development studio – why?

I got into programming when I was 14 and I published my first iPhone application on the App Store in 2008. I then published another simple one in 2009. By this time my interest had grown massively.
About a year ago I did compulsory work experience with school and decided to do it at a local debt management company in their programming department and it put me off programming altogether because the work was so boring and mudane.
I therefore decided to concentrate on the sort of development work I was interested in and off my own back I emailed ustwo™ and to my surprise was immediately contacted by the man himself, mills.
ustwo™ is a company I have followed on twitter for over a year and I’ve been fascinated by their mad and beautiful applications and I’m so glad I gave it a shot and emailed them.

What is it about app developers, ustwo™ that made you want to work for a company like it?

From seeing tweets, blog posts, videos etc, ustwo™ seemed to be an amazing company to work for because it looked so fun and the people there seemed so friendly. I loved just looking at their approaches to applications, how they worked and the amazing graphics and sounds they used. They obviously focused on design and quality, which I admired and really wanted to learn from them and discover how it was all done.

Why do you love developing apps?

I love developing applications and the satisfaction of solving problems and creating software that works well and look nice.
It’s so great when you know 1000′s of people have used your app – especially when you get emails and reviews from people saying how much they love it and enjoy using the app.
When developing apps, I constantly learn new things and I am experimenting with interactive design and animation with applications which I love doing.

What’s the hardest part of being an app developer is?

Personally over the couple of years that I have got into iPhone development, the hardest thing was solving problems on my own, without being able to discuss concepts and problems with other people because I had no one to contact. It was extremely hard to get around the concept of programming at the beginning, without a teacher and I still have so much more to learn.
It’s hard to just pinpoint one thing that is a challenging being an app developer but fixing complicated bugs and crash’s will always be a problem to all developers and I personally think it is the hardest most time consuming.

Terry Touch™ is a simple finger olympic-esque type of game, almost pointless. But fun. Do you think it will do well?

Yes, I hope it does well because many of the applications, which are doing well on the App Store, are totally pointless but I think that’s a good thing. The Terry Touch graphics are great and anyone can pick up and play the game because the learning curve is so small. The game can be strangely addictive especially with its global leaderboard and achievements on OpenFeint. This will hopefully attract kids at school to complete and help it escalate it to the top of the charts!

I see you have supported Terry Touch™ with iAds, meaning the app is FREE to download, do you think FREE is the only way to get big downloads?

I don’t think the use of iAds is the only way to get big downloads, but maybe an easier way, because Terry Touch is a quite small simple game which people would be more than happy to download for free but, due to big company’s such as EA selling their games for very low prices, customers are no longer happy to spend the same amount of money for an independent simpler smaller game. iAds keep the quality of the game really high and help bring in revenue when the game is doing well.

ustwo™ chose to release Terry Touch™ as part of their ongoing mission to ‘TRY ANYTHING on the app store – will this work?

Most definitely because they have tried various ways of cracking into the App Store top charts such as the ‘coollectable’ 48hr games with their small but addictive and gorgeous games. The Granimator™ is a mad but fascinating idea of getting artists around the world to get involved with one app masterpiece, and now they have  free iAd supported fun game developed by me, a student on work experience. I haven’t heard of any other company who has tried so many things on the App Store whilst concentrating on creating quality applications and not just to make money.

When you leave college what do you want to be?

At the moment I really don’t know because I have only experienced a very small portion of the programming industry. But I loved working at ustwo™ as an iPhone developer and would really love to work in this area as a future career. I want to see what interests me most through school and university. I am interested in user experience and interfaces, which is why I think I like developing for the iPhone because the small screen size means restrictions, which creates a challenge. So at the moment I would love to develop mobile applications and maybe even Mac software once I have finished my education.

That’s it people, if you want to find out more from Jack or ustwo, leave your questions in the comments section and you’ll get the answers straight from the chaps for apps in no time. In the meantime get Terry Touch™ and give it a spin.

“Niche WordPress themes” is one of our favorite topics – you know that by now. We had roundups for business, portfolio, shopping or super specialized themes, but this time we’re lining up the coolest 10 WP themes for iEverything – iPhone apps, iPad accessories, appstores and so on. Check out our selection and feel free to suggest new entries in the comments.

Fone Deluxe | $27 | Demo | Download

My App | $0.86! | Demo | Download

Apz | $70 | Demo | Download

iPhone App | $65 | Demo | Download

my Application | $12 | Demo | Download

Inspire | $70 | Demo | Download

AppCloud | $35 | Demo | Download

AppTheme | $50 | Demo | Download

Mee Templates | 39,50 € | Demo | Download

PadPressed | $49 | Demo | Download

Do films require video to be entertaining? Take away the people in a movie, and what left is there? Add in cleverly designed typography, and you’ve birthed life into something that was lifeless. Below are fifteen examples of stunning kinetic typography pieces timed to fifteen different popular films.

Rocky Balboa

Kill Bill

Pulp Fiction

Fight Club

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

V for Vendetta

The Matrix

Requiem for a Dream

Trainspotting

Step Brothers

Devil’s Advocate

The Big Lebowski

Ocean’s Eleven

Wedding Crashers

Zoolander

This is a guest post by Alan Martin – a copywriter at Cooper Murphy Webb, the business writing and copywriting company.

All business writing has one goal and that’s to persuade someone to do something. Whether you’re writing a blog post or sales copy, you want your audience to act. Persuasive writing can often be the most difficult type of writing, especially when the average person is barraged daily by a never-ending flow of information.  Follow these tips to become a more successful business copywriter, one whose readers not only read your entire email but also follow-through with the requested action.

1. What do you want your reader to do?

Before you even start writing it’s important for you to know exactly what you want your reader to do. If you have a clear goal in mind, you will be better able to express this goal in written form. If you find that after you begin writing you become bogged down, it can be helpful to re-read while asking this question and weeding out those sentences that don’t help explain what you want your readers to do.

2. Know your audience

Before writing, think about your audience. Do your readers fit into a certain group? Do they know you? Are they familiar with your company? What types of information will catch their eye and keep them reading? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you select the most appropriate tone and avoid phrases that your audience may not be familiar with.

3. Catch your readers’ attention

Though all your content should be interesting enough to keep the reader moving along, the first sentence and paragraph are the most important because most readers decide within the first few lines whether to keep reading. This is why you should begin with a piece of information that is most compelling to readers. Make sure what you lead with is not too complicated or detailed; otherwise you may chase readers away.

4. Why should I care?

Your reader should understand within the first paragraph why he or she should care about what you are writing. Be specific about what your company is asking and how that person can and should want to help. Be careful not to bog them down in too many details, but don’t be afraid to be too clear. Ambiguity kills.

5. Action is your goal

Almost all business writing is persuasive, which means it has one common goal: to get your reader to do something. You must tell your readers what to do, and don’t forget to tell them how to do it.

6. Use the 5 W’s

“Who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “why” aren’t just for journalists. In order to persuade your reader to do anything, they must understand the basics. The “how” can also be useful to include.

7. Be Concise

Drawing your readers in, answering the five W’s, giving them an action plan and telling them how to do it may seem like a lot of information to provide, and it certainly can be. But always keep in mind that most readers don’t want to be wasting their time. They don’t want to read an elaborate description of the inner workings of your company in order to understand what they should do. Conciseness is the key. After writing your original copy, always trim. You should be able to cut off about half from the original.

8. Concise yet complete

Though you want to be concise, you shouldn’t leave any questions unanswered. Editing plays an important role in your ability to successfully balance these two seemingly-contradictory terms. You will at some point be stumped as to whether or not to include a certain detail. You must exercise your own judgment in each specific case.

9. Write in active voice

A sentence written in active voice leads with the subject that is committing the action of the verb. With passive voice the object that receives the action of the verb leads. Here’s a simple example of active voice: “Tomorrow I will send you my report.” Now, the same sentence written passively: “Tomorrow you will receive my report from me.”

As you can see, writing in active voice is clearer, more concise and demonstrates action better than passive voice, which is important when trying to persuade someone to do something.

10. Avoid choices

Another way to be concise in your writing is to avoid giving your reader specific choices. Or, if you have to, give only two. For example, if you are setting up a meeting via e-mail instead of asking what times that person is available, give him a time and ask if he is available then. Or give her a specific time but tell her to pick one other time if she is not available when you suggested.

11. Break up your copy

If you feel that your audience may have a particularly short attention span, breaking up your text to highlight important information is a good idea. Well-organized bulleted lists and short subheads allow readers to find the most important information quickly.

12. Email templates are great

Creating templates for any document you will use again in the future is a great way to save time and avoid errors from other staff members. When creating a template, triple-check that everything is correct. There is nothing worse than sending an email with spelling and grammatical errors to all of your possible clients.

13. Personalize your email templates

Once you are sure your template is correct, you should still make small changes to personalize it for each person. This means changing something more than just the receiver’s name and address. Add in one sentence explaining why that person’s particular business should care. Or change the first sentence to something specific that will better catch their attention.

14. Avoid jargon

Use the plain language you use in conversation rather than fancy jargon that doesn’t have much meaning to most people. Sometimes in technical writing, such as user guides, jargon can be unavoidable, but for most business copy you should use words like “now” and “team work” rather than “at this juncture” and “synergy,” respectively.

15. Substitute short for long

Never use a phrase when one word will say the same. Here are some of the most overly used phrases that can be replaced with one word:

for the purpose of = for

the majority of =  most

in order to = to

provide an introduction = introduce

on a daily basis = daily

on a regular basis  = routinely

Similarly, never use a long word, when a short one will do. Many people think that the longer the word, the smarter they sound, but instead it often sounds like they are trying too hard. Instead of “utilize” write “used.” Instead of “engendered” write “produced.”

16. Write positively

To get readers to respond with action to your request you need to write in a positive tone. Have you ever been distracted while walking down the street by someone giving a speech? It probably wasn’t because they were shouting negatively at you; in fact, if they were you’d probably walk away quicker. People who speak enthusiastically about a topic attract more listeners. It’s the same in copywriting for the web. People react better to someone who takes a positive tone about what he or she is promoting.

17. Vary your sentences

Though concise sentences in active voice are best for persuasive writing, not every sentence should look the same or your reader will become bored. Mix it up with complex and simple sentence structures and a variety of clauses. But do not force your writing to be more diverse; your sentences should still sound natural.

18. Go light on ad-s

One helpful hint that will make your writing more concise is to go easy on adjectives and adverbs. These words end up being unnecessary filler. Too many descriptive words are distracting. You’re not getting paid per word like Charles Dickens so don’t write like you are.

19. Avoid “very”

If you are still inclined to use adjectives and adverbs, at least take “very” out of your vocabulary. The word is so overused and subjective that it has essentially lost its meaning. What does, “It was a very beautiful day” really mean? How more than beautiful is very beautiful? No one knows, so leave it out.

20. Avoid “insecure” words

And while we’re removing words from your vocabulary, you also want to stay away from “insecure” words, such as “seems,” “perhaps,” “apparently,” “usually.” These words are unpersuasive and make you sound like you aren’t really sure what you’re talking about. No one will take action if it only “seems” likely to result in something positive.

21. Do sweat the small stuff

After writing, re-read and make sure grammar, punctuation and spelling are consistent and reflect someone who knows how to write. If you’ve used dates, states or measurements make sure they are all written or abbreviated in the same format. Glaring errors and inconsistencies stop readers immediately and make you look like an idiot.

22. Spelling

And while you are proofreading, triple check that every proper noun is spelled correctly.

23. Know your commas

For those readers who know where a comma should and should not be there’s nothing more aggravating than reading a paragraph drowning in commas. Leaving out commas is just as unsightly. A missed comma usually results in a run-on sentence and reader confusion. You don’t want to make your readers stop and re-read a sentence. Remember, their time is precious in an online environment of information-overload.

24. Know your grammar

Grammar is also like commas. For those of us who know proper grammar, reading improper grammar is downright painful. No one will take you seriously if you don’t write properly. Know the most common mistakes:

· That vs. which

· Who vs. whom

· Affect vs. effect

· Subject verb agreement

For more common mistakes, click here.

25. Say no to exclamations and capital letters

You do want to be enthusiastic and positive in your writing, but there is a limit. Do not emphasize with capital letters or lots of exclamations. Readers will be less inclined to take you seriously.

26. Proofread

Always proofread everything you write before sending it off, including short e-mails. Double-check spelling, grammar and consistency. Make sure everything makes sense and that the action you are requesting your reader to perform is clear. Reading it more than once is best. And never shirk the proofreading process for lack of time; that’s when mistakes happen. Each mistake makes your goal that much harder to achieve.

27. Read it out loud

Reading your copy out loud makes it easier to hear any grammatical mistakes you made, and it will become instantly clear whether your writing makes sense. Reading out loud also helps you hear where you can trim your copy. Things that your eyes scan over, your ears won’t miss.

Well since it’s Friday and everybody’s happy I thought we should get even more reasons to be cheerful so we invited Neil of Dennis and McGregor (one of our newest advertisers) to recommend us some insanely cool items to offer as a gift to a designhead. Or to crave for.

FERM LIVING – COAT TREE WALL STICKER

In our ever changing environment where space is always an issue, this is the perfect solution to eliminate clutter in your entrance.  Both decorative and functional this wall sticker will leave everyone wanting one. This will create a unique look and change the style and atmosphere in a room. The possibilities are endless and the only limit is your imagination.

GUZZINI – ESPRESSO MACHINE

Who can survive without a good cup of coffee these days? This single espresso machine really helps us get going in the morning.  It’s compact design is ideal for a small kitchen or office as well as having an ultra modern look.  This Italian made espresso coffee machine seamlessly reconciles the creativity and elegance of Guzzini with technology and experience of Lavazza.

Impress your clients with some fantastic coffee or help yourself stay awake during those long hours with the help of Guzzini.

NORMAN COPENHAGEN – NORM 03 LIGHTSHADE

This light puts a new spin on the phrase DIY. This modern self-assembly sculptural lamp is designed with organic principles in mind.  Really coming into its own when lit, it casts sculptural shadows over the walls and ceilings.  So why not pour yourself a nice glass of wine, put your favorite music on and soon you will be the proud owner of your very own handmade Norm 03 lamp – made by you.

LEGONOART – ELIXIR WINE DECANTER/CARAFE SET

Decanters are not only beautiful and make serving easy, they also allow your wine to breath, bringing out the most of your everyday or fine wine. Its been known for centuries that red wine has superb restorative powers. So take this opportunity to store your choice wine in a decanter worthy of it.  Legnoart is one of the most prominent Italian product design companies for homewares, kitchenwares and your wine collection.

Similar to the Guzzini espresso machine, for those late nights, turn up the stereo and pour yourself a glass of red to keep you going.

CHARLES EAMES – RAR STYLE ROCKER CHAIR

Designed by Charles & Ray Eames in 1950, their RAR armchair was first presented as part of the famed New York Museum of Modern Art competition, “Low Cost Furniture Design”.   Now it is an essential part of modern designer furniture. If you can’t afford the real deal, this Charles Eames RAR style rocker chair is perfect and has been designed on the same principles, but for a fraction of the price.  High Quality reproduction in the style of the original design. This chair features a sumptuous seat shell that conforms to the body’s shape with graceful armrest. Experience the ulitmate rocking chair experience on a classic

FERM LIVING – DOUBLE TROUBLE WALLPAPER

It is so easy to fall into a cliche of readily available wallpaper from your local retail outlet.  This Ferm Living designer wallpaper sets a new standard in modern and eccentric design elements by combining words from day to day living that evoke emotion & imagination while still sticking to a subtle & modern design elements. Designed by Danish born Emil Kozak, who was influenced by a world of skating and surfing,  Kozak’s funky designs are full of clever surprises, obscure references and word play.

It covers any feature wall with style and becomes the focal point in your home or design studio.

NEWGATE – BUBBLE CLOCK

Deadline, deadline and deadlines. If you struggle to keep track of time for your design projects, this Newgate Bubble clock is the perfect solution, and it looks great!

With its 70’s retro style, this bubble clock will keep you on time and in style and is a refreshing alternative to the usual timekeepers.

FERM LIVING – FELT BUTTON CUSHION

Gone are the days when you only saw cushions on your Grandma’s sofa.  Turkman nomads made their tents, clothes and floor coverings from the material and it consequently became a significant part of many cultural  rituals.  These felt cushions are not only beautiful, versatile and hard wearing but look unique and will bring a touch of style to any room.

GUZZINI – FEELING MUGS

We *love* these minimalist and fun mugs. Their striking colours help brighten your day and they are the perfect companion for the Guzzini espresso machine too! Coffee drinking is becoming one of the fastest growing pass times, why not do it with a little bit of simple elegance.  They are so comfortable to hold it will have you drinking coffee for hours.

ANGLEPOISE – 1227 DESK LAMP

Anglepoise have been creating iconic table lamps for over 70 years and they pride themselves on a British design classic that has stood the test of time and has redefined how versatile a table lamp can be, no matter what its intended use. Their 1227 desk lamp is beautiful. Its weight and balance has been perfected so it moves effortless to your preferred position.

We have these in our studio and they look fantastic with our Herman Miller desks, a perfect combination. They also get lots of comments from clients and friends.

Umm, what’s your favorite? Would you like to buy it for yourself, offer it as a gift or receive it on your birthday?

Craig Baldwin is a graduate graphic designer from the Winchester School of Art with a keen interest in print and publishing as well as blogging and web design.

And I’m back from my holiday, most enjoyable stuff and strangely Fever only said I had 200 points to get through so I’m guessing they expire after awhile because I was expecting thousands. I will have missed some great design I’m sure but I simply don’t have the time to look back over all of it.

Anyway, back to the schedule. I’ll admit I was in a bit of a rush this week so I’ve reverted back to my original idea of using this space to give the work context rather than my opinion.

Mike Giesser: A Broader Perspective

“This book was the result of an internal campaign/photo competition [themed around the notion of A Broader Perspective] for the staff of Elsevier. The content is a mix of amateur photography, quotes about books, facts about ScienceDirect [the product we were promoting] and results from keyword searches performed on ScienceDirect.”

Amy Hoy & Thomas Fuchs: Time Zones

“Never warp your brain with time zone math again.” Always was a bit confusing and my only point of reference became 10am in the US=5pm GMT because that’s when the Apple conferences were.

Porta4 Design Studio: Terrakunza

On first glance this looks like the next edition of Adobe’s Creative Suite packaging but in fact it’s the box for Terrakunza; gourmet cookies to you and me. It’s credited to Porta4 but I couldn’t find it on their website so linked to the place I found it as a back up.

Ben Jennings: CTRL

“CTRL is an investigation into the effects of technology on both a personal and social level, intending to create awareness of our dependence on it. Volunteers were given a ‘cultural probe kit’ containing several tasks to be completed over the course of one week. The results were then analysed and presented in a three-volume research document (exegesis).”

Konrad Sybilski: Projekt Drzewo

Sure it’s a little rough around the edges but I really like the idea behind this animation, and it’s all so peaceful as well.

Messy Design: Self Promotion

This is more than just a self promotional but also an explanation of typography and how (not) to use it but instead of keeping it dry and using just type they explore using their faces to illustrate the main points such as stretching a type (guess which that is). I hope they didn’t scare off potential clients with those odd looking faces.

EepyBird: Sticky Note Experiment

An old one but a great one nonetheless. Fun with sticky notes!

Dave Thackeray helps small businesses to get the competitive advantage through exceptional communications. He coaches and creates communications and focuses on driving passion through personality-ridden, relationship-building online strategies.

It’s 2010 and we’re still in the thralls of the New Great Depression. We’re waivering, for sure, and that’s a solid sign of fortune in times to come. But whether we choose to acknowledge the reality or stick our heads in the sand, there are challenges ahead, for sure.

99 per cent of people fear recession. It’s a harbinger of doom, of cutting back, of fear and precipitous regret for the overindulgences of the past.

Or you look at it the other way. As the 1 per cent you’re already unique, and now you’re about to prove your mettle by demonstrating an unswerving ability to realise the pure benefits of being just around the corner from a phase of economic growth.

Recessions and depressions only stunt sales and business for those who don’t understand the massive opportunities. If you have a product or service that sells in the good times, that sates an unquestionable need, then rest easy that that itch still needs scratching come rain or shine.

If you take a moment to think about your market, you’ll quickly understand that society and civilisation doesn’t come to a grinding halt simply because money is tighter. People prioritise and if your service is exemplary, your outlook bright, and your proposition unanswerably effective, you’re on the home run to profitability now and into the future.

Take a look at JetBlue. A modest airline, defined by its exemplary attention to customer need. Just yesterday, a $10 sale on a raft of domestic flights across the US. A few months ago, a fly-as-much-as-you-can pass for not much more than a ticket to a Red Sox game.

This from a company unafraid to change the world, raise its game to new levels and be at the zenith of market performance. Suffice to say among JetBlue’s values, ‘sold out’ figures prominently.

There are many restaurants who offer ‘credit crunch’ lunches, many retailers slashing costs through desperation and crowd-following. But the reality here is that if you have something that sells in the sun, you simply need to give it a good buffing to merchandise well in the rain.

Covet your customers, reiterate why you’ve achieved standout in the past and coddle their fears and concerns. By exuding care and immaculate attention to your business and client relationships, you’ll be the bellwether for your competition, as they realise the way ahead isn’t, as they first thought, two steps back.

Prosper, profit and be proud of what you’ve achieved. Thinking outside the box is a surefire way of making magical returns from uncertain times.

Still don’t have a custom FaceBook page for your business? Well it’s time to inspire you to make one. The showcase below is a collection of 50 custom Facebook pages of top brands & celebrities. Some of them are just pictures, some use Flash or Javascript, but mainly they are plain HTML pages. The only thing you need to keep in mind while designing a Facebook page is that tomorrow (August 23rd) Facebook is going to shrink page width to 520px.

World’s Best Brands

Those are the guys with enormous budgets, that can afford to hire the best designers and Social Media Marketers. Some of their pages really impress, while some of them could really come up with something more exciting.

Coca-Cola

Intel

Nokia

Toyota

Disney

McDonald’s

Mercedes-Benz

BMW

Gilette

Louis Vuitton

Honda

Samsung

Pepsi

Nescafe

Dell

Sony

Budweiser

Nike

Ikea

Harley Davidson

eBay

MTV

KFC

Nestle

Pizza Hut

Motorola

Adidas

Smirnoff

Bulgary

Levi’s

Celebrities

Celebrities are known to use every opportunity to make people speak about them. However when I checked the Forbes 100 list of celebrities it appeared that most of them do not have a decent page on Facebook, so what I collected here is mainly musicians. In addition you can check a showcase of Facebook pages of Top DJs.

Lady Gaga

David Guetta

Rihanna

Britney Spears

Snoop Dogg

Ozzy Osbourne

Tokio Hotel

Even more pages

The number of beautiful custom pages is growing every day. Lots of web designers are now offering custom Facebook page design jobs as well as ready-made FBML templates. There are even some Facebook applications which let you build a custom page for your business. If your page does not look like the ones below – it’s time to do something

Livescribe

StarBurst

Disneyland

Avatar

Step Up

Hollister

TopShop

NHL

Visa

Marlo Schalesky

Zéphyr

CharityHappenings

Salisburghese

Want to Learn More About Facebook Marketing?

If you’re not fully leveraging the power of Facebook, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Most businesses are just now getting started with Facebook.

There’s one easy way to take your Facebook marketing to the next level. By attending the web’s largest online Facebook conference, Facebook Success Summit 2010, you’ll become empowered to use Facebook to gain more exposure, better engage customers and grow your business.

The great part is you’ll be learning from 22 Facebook experts (including the 7 mentioned in this article). In addition to Mari Smith, Jesse Stay, Brian Solis and Michael Stelzner, you’ll learn how Intel, Cisco, Microsoft Xbox, SAP and the Washington Redskins are all leveraging Facebook.

It’s the web’s largest online Facebook marketing conference. Go here for a free sample and to learn more

I’m not a really big fan of reading, but I like to think that a book cover can tell you a lot about what you’ll find in it! Book cover art is a great way for graphic designers to showcase their skills to the world at a mainstream scale. Most of the book covers I picked are made by designers so maybe I’ll start reading a little more.

94 Incredible Patterns for Design and Illustration

A Pictorial Archive from Nineteenth Century Sources

Classic Graphics Today’s Designs

Creating Letters and Designing Typefaces

David Choe

Fullmetal Alchemist 23

Graphic Artists Guild Handbook Pricing & Ethical Guidelines

Hand Job A Catalog of Type

Jon Burgerman Pens Are My Friends

Latex for Fun

Lemon Poppy Seed Multitasking Creativity

Linger

Milton Glaser Graphic Design

The Big Book of Layouts

Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far

Your turn now – seen any good cover art lately? Shoot some links and we’ll update the post!

I have a passion for creative thinking. The process of discovering a new approach to solving problems of any kind is challenging and invigorating. My latest endeavor of designing the album artwork for the “TECHNICOLOR EP” was no different. Here’s a step-by-step look into my creative process.

Step 1: the idea

This is ALWAYS the most important step in the creative process. Without ideas driving what we do our endeavors are worthless and end up mindless fads that are soon forgotten. In our digital world there are applications on every platform that add the latest design trends to your photos, posters, websites, etc. with the simple click of a mouse. It’s the people with thought, concept, and originality that stand out. People with an idea.

The idea for the album cover came from a skateboard design I did as a student in college. The idea grew out of my desire to be able to record anywhere, my own traveling recording studio. This original thought seemed extremely applicable in recording my first EP especially when taking my music on the road. Without a band to back me up I had to rely on loop pedals and effects to fill in the sound and create a unique experience for the audience.

Step 2: get help

I have several friends who are not only passionate about creative things but also willing to put there time and effort into helping others. I brought on my friends Elizabeth Borders and Rachel Clary (2 phenomenal graphic designers currently attending design school at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth) to help with the layout and composition of my piece.

Step 3: gather, organize, layout

We gathered every piece of sound/music equipment I had in my house, placed them on a white sheet and began the layout process. I wanted my guitar to be the focal point so we began to build around it. After maneuvering multiple items in and around the guitar we began to lay out wires by taping down the loose ends with double sided tape.

Step 4: photograph it

I wanted the piece when complete to have a scanned appearance in order to leave room for the possibility of printing it out as a large gallery piece. Since I don’t have access to a large gallery scanner I had to fake it. I took photos from directly above all of the major components in order to give each one the right perspective. I then filled in the negative space with remaining wires. I shot the piece on a Canon 5D Mk II with a 24-70mm 2.8 lens and two 580 EX II Speedlites.

Step 5: color correction

I shoot all my photographs in RAW format in order to have maximum flexibility in the color correcting process, using Aperture for all my color correction (but you can use just easily use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom or something similar). Make sure that you always color correct before piecing the collage together so that you get the full range of the RAW imaging data.

I wanted plenty of contrast and definition in order for the image to feel surreal and to avoid difficult background touch-ups. (Aperture allows you to make simple adjustments and apply them to multiple items in your library).

Step 6: piece it together

Adobe Photoshop CS5 comes with an incredible new tool to help piece together panoramic images. It’s next to worthless when doing this type of image, though, because of the different vantage points I created with the photos. (This step was one of the more time consuming aspects of the project.) Getting everything lined up with different camera angles is always a daunting task. Instead of using the eraser on images it’s always better to use a vector mask. With the eraser once it’s gone you can’t get it back but when you use vector masks everything can be shown or hidden by using the black or white paint brush.

Step 7: fill in the gaps

Because of the different perspectives, some of the wires were not lining up. So I created new layers for those specific sections I needed to align perfectly and used the transform warp tool to line the images up.

Step 8: clean up

After everything was completely in place I went back through to clean up some of the distracting shadows and off-white spaces. (To help with this task I added an adjustment layer that brought the brightness down.) This allowed me to see even the spots that might appear white on my screen but could potentially show up as splotches on someone else’s monitor.

Step 9: one final touch

I wanted something on the screen of the iPad but nothing too distracting. Putting the name of the EP seemed the most logical thing to add since I didn’t want text anywhere else on the front cover. Keeping with the original non-digital theme I did not want to pick a font and move on, so I hand sketched some letters, scanned them in, traced them in illustrator, placed them in photoshop, added a touch of the noise filter, a white box and called it a done deal.

Step 10: take it to the masses

The album was a free online release so the only thing left to do was create a few ads with the completed artwork and voilà. I now have a unique album cover design backed by pointy of blood, sweat and tears. All created and put together by myself with a little help, not a studio executive and his uber-design team. True Indie!