In January, I facilitated a discussion about SEO at the WordPress Southwest Florida MeetUp. This blog post is a detailed outline of my presentation. SEO … [Read More...] about SEO for WordPress Content Creators
Environmental Campaign Project 2018
This semester's Graphic Design 2 class began with an assignment to design new campaign materials for an environmental group. In this project, we explored ways to educate and alert people about the many environmental concerns that our planet currently faces. Students chose one environmental issue that they care about. Options included global warming, air pollution, water pollution, land pollution, climate change, deforestation, genetic modification, marine life, public health, overpopulation, … [Read more...] about Environmental Campaign Project 2018
Home Page Widgets in WordPress
The home page on your website is the main page where viewers land when they first arrive on the site. It is most often the base URL address, such as "www.yourwebsite.com". All of the other pages build off of the main page and use the base URL with a backslash to indicate their location: "www.yourwebsite.com/interiorpage". The default home page in WordPress is a list of your posts. That's because WordPress started out as a blogging platform. The most recent post will appear at the top of the … [Read more...] about Home Page Widgets in WordPress
Multiple Page Sizes in a Single InDesign Document
It's fairly common for a project to have many components, each one a different size. Maybe it's a branding project with a logo, letterhead, business card, envelope, poster, t-shirt, and brochure. Maybe it's a book jacket with 2 flaps, a spine, and back and front cover. One approach is to create a new InDesign document for every separate piece. I would certainly do that for multi-page files like brochures and books. For one-page items, though, you could use another approach: create different page … [Read more...] about Multiple Page Sizes in a Single InDesign Document
The Snowball Effect in Florida: Upgrading to High Sierra
Yes, you can have a snowball effect in sunny Florida! I know this because it happened to me this week. What started as a simple need to install a software program gradually grew into a larger, more complex series of events. Applications and System Requirements I am teaching my Graphic Design 2 class remotely this semester. That's because my students are in Newton, Massachusetts and I now live in Florida. One of the more promising tools I was considering for video conferencing—Skype for … [Read more...] about The Snowball Effect in Florida: Upgrading to High Sierra
Welcome to Florida: Acclimating
Snippets of life since moving to Florida... June 29 - Hello Florida! We arrived safe and sound in Naples late this afternoon! As I write this, I am feeling exhausted but happy. It was a long journey (4 days), taking us through areas of the eastern seaboard neither of us had ever seen. Much of the landscape was quite beautiful. The Shenandoah Valley was really lovely. Food (made by many of you), good music, and good conversation was the standard for each day. The clouds … [Read more...] about Welcome to Florida: Acclimating
Shedding
My partner and I are moving to Florida in 2 weeks. I've lived in the Boston area my entire life, so this is a huge change for me. It's the longest distance I've ever covered in a move. The company we hired to transport our furniture and goods to our new home bases their fee on weight. The general rule of thumb is if it costs you more to move something than to buy it new, don't take it with you. Plus, we don't have as much storage in Florida. There is no basement, although we do have several … [Read more...] about Shedding
Create an InDesign File with Bleeds
Adobe InDesign is my go-to layout program for multiple page print projects, such as magazines, brochures, and books. You can, of course, also use it for single-page documents, and even digital projects. For many years, I used Quark XPress, another fantastic publishing software. I switched to InDesign, because I was already using other Adobe products (Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Acrobat) and liked the seamless integration among the programs. What the heck are bleeds? Clue number 1: … [Read more...] about Create an InDesign File with Bleeds
Packaging Illustrator Files
Adobe introduced the package feature for Illustrator with CS6. Prior to this welcomed update, we had to manually duplicate our Illustrator files and collect all of the associated images and fonts into a folder. Talk about opportunities for error! Unless you were extra careful, it was inevitable that a font or image (or two) would be missing from the folder that you sent off to the print vendor. You can't simply email the Illustrator file to whoever needs it. You must provide the Illustrator … [Read more...] about Packaging Illustrator Files
Preflighting and Packaging InDesign Files
Sooner or later, you will discover that sending an InDesign file to another person or vendor is a bit more complicated than simply emailing the file. You must provide the InDesign document along with all of its associated images and fonts. Otherwise, the recipient won't be able to do much beyond opening the InDesign file. InDesign has two great tools that work in tandem with each other: Preflight Panel and Package. The Preflight Panel alerts you about any prepress issues in the file. If you … [Read more...] about Preflighting and Packaging InDesign Files
My Core Set of WordPress Plugins
There are so many WordPress plugins to choose from! How do you even begin to make choices? To help get you started, I've compiled a list of my "go to" plugins, the ones that I use for each WordPress install I do. Most are free, some are premium (you must purchase). Core Set of Plugins TweetMeme/Like/Share This — places a button at the top or bottom of a post, which helps readers share your content on a number of sites, such as Digg, Delicious, FaceBook, LinkedIn, MySpace, RSS, … [Read more...] about My Core Set of WordPress Plugins
Two Great Ways to Create Masks in Photoshop
Masks are powerful tools for manipulating images. Just as Halloween masks hide and protect areas of the face, Photoshop masks hide and protect areas of an image. You use masks to isolate the parts that you want to change. For instance, let’s say you are designing a magazine cover and do a photo shoot of a musician at the beach. When you get back to your studio, the client decides that the beach is too complex and he/she prefers a simpler backdrop…. Yikes! Instead of doing another photo shoot … [Read more...] about Two Great Ways to Create Masks in Photoshop
Distracted Driving Project 2017
I like to begin the school year with a socially relevant assignment in my Graphic Design 2 class. Last year’s distracted driving project provided a great forum for addressing a subject that touches all of us, so I assigned it again this year. At first, the students approached the assignment with some apprehension, partly because of the seriousness of the subject. But they analyzed the problem well and designed with unique perspectives that focused on the best ways to reach their target … [Read more...] about Distracted Driving Project 2017
How to Create Masks in Illustrator
Called Clipping Paths in Illustrator, masks are shapes that are used to hide areas of color or images. The portion of color or image that lies within the shape of the mask is visible. Designers create masks to clip images and insert images inside text. The benefit of masks is that they are non-destructive. The hidden areas are still in the file (they haven't been deleted) and you can easily edit them. Four Ways to Make a Mask 1 - Mask Button This is an easy way to mask an image with a … [Read more...] about How to Create Masks in Illustrator
Image Captions in WordPress
Shortly after writing an article about Adding Images to WordPress Pages and Posts, I received an inquiry about how to add captions to images. Captions are the small text that appears underneath pictures. They often contain brief descriptions and copyright information. You can add captions to individual images or to multiple images. Captions for Individual Images Sometimes you'll realize that a caption is needed for an image after you've written a post or created a page. Go to the post or … [Read more...] about Image Captions in WordPress