Main reason that i had to make a new design was, because the last site got hacked pretty hard and i lost all of my data. The backups were also broken so there are lots of posts with missing images in them and the previous theme was broken and bugged.

What will i be writing on my blog? There were quite some ideas but mostly it will be a web and graphic design oriented site with the help of photography (i’m went kinda deep into this). To add some extra to it it will have some sweet tutorials and guides so there isn’t a way of getting bored here.

So fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride…

But first let’s see, what wikipedia has to say about this. The word talent refers to, talent, as a intellectual giftedness, and a skill,which is the ability to perform a task well or better than average. Which is true, but still, we understand this word differently. Most of the time people use it as talent equals “i really like your work”.

Sometimes if a person is talented, people think, that he doesn’t have to work hard to achieve something good. Let it be creativity, design or sports, this is not true. For me being talented means a ability to let’s say learn some skills faster or maybe yet, taking less time to finish something or taking the same time as others, but making it better. To make good work, you need to put effort in it, being talent only helps, but doesn’t do the job for you.

There are also differences in being talented and being a hard working person. My personal opinion is that a hard working person, can beat a lazy talent whenever there’s time. But, you’ve got a problem if you’re competing to a hard working and talented person. To catch up to him, you’ll need to work twice the hard, or even more.

Let me tell you my own short story. I’ve been learning and doing web and graphic design for couple of years, when i started, i saw a lot of good designs, especially those amazing flash sites. And since i only knew the basics i really got depressed looking at those. It even got me thinking of quiting since i didn’t think i was able do such great things. Well the problem was i wasn’t that experienced at that time. But since i love what i do i started to feel more and more motivated and started working and learning hard.

A lot of people get depressed if they see talented people and their portfolios. After that, they think they’re not talented. If you don’t believe in yourself being talented, you should start believing in your work. You can always be a talent of hard work!

The answer to that question is simple. For those who are reading this post and already have the pretty Moo cards, it’s crystal clear. They are cool, smaller in size which makes them stand out of all those boring ones, and each of them is different. Another thing is, they are really popular.

You may remember when you were a young sticker or stamp collector. Well Moo cards are so popular, that people are trading them. They just can’t have enough of them

100 cards cost about $20. They are full color and the print is high quality. On the back side, you can have 6 lines of text. Impressing a client with a different non-boring type of card could be a big plus. Oh and did i mention, they come in a recycled box and so is the paper.

As i designer having all the cards different is a big benefit for me. Since all pictures on the front side of the card are made from my work/portfolio, photographs i’ve taken etc. Now when i meet a future client i’ll show him 10 cards and say choose the one you like. That way, he will choose the business card he likes the most meaning that one will be the most memorable to him. Also he will be able to see my work right away, even before he looks at the url to my site at the back.

I’ve heard people say, that business cards should be all the same. Well i say, it may be a guideline, but it depends from the marketing ideas etc. Having a logotype on every card sure is a big benefit since it gives exposure to your brand.

But for me, my brand is my name and my work so i think it’s better to give exposure to my work than in the brand… for now

There are a lot of tools out there, from search engine backlinks check up to keyword density on your site. So which ones will you be using the most?

Today i’ll talk about 2 of the most common ones i’ll be using from now on. Both come from SEM Labs SEO Tools, a fairly new site started by David Hopkins from Mutiny Design. So let’s start with the first one.

Rank checking for Google, Yahoo, Ask and Live

This SEO tool is called the Rank Checker. And it does a pretty sweet thing. After you make a new post to your blog, that has a keyword or two in the title, you will want to use this tool after that sites gets indexed to find it. This is useful to know how much backlinks you need to add to that site to get ranked better.

If it’s already ranked high, you can start making another post with rich and unique content. Let’s do a little test. As you can see on the picture below, i wanted to know where i rank for a keyword “freelance designer”. And as the tool shows, i have a nice ranking on Google and other Search Engines. I now need to get more links to that site with a anchor text of “freelance designer” and i’ll be getting higher on serps.

This tool is really fast and accurate when it comes to finding the ranks of you web page. I also use it daily since i try to write daily content.

SEO tool for buying old domains

The next tool is the Old Domain Digest. If used correct it may be a great investment. The tools works very simple. If you want to start earning money fast, you need to already have a good website, with a god keyword or two in the domain and of course it has to have lots of backlinks to it.

Some such domain expire and if you’re lucky you’ll be one of those to buy it and start getting traffic almost instantly. A lot of people are trying to find such sites, the problem is, there wasn’t a good tool to make it easy. But now SEM Labs has made such tool and life just got easier.

There are also other good ways on how to use this tool like a pro. You can check alexa.com and see how many traffic these domain got, or buy some, make a relevant site to your and link to it. Just make sure you use different hosting accounts and IPs.

For example, i need links from design related sites. Here is a screenshot on how would i search for them:

I could make some articles for those sites and link keywords to mine, that way i’d be building up my own site with those little ones. PR4,5 and 6 domains are good.

So that’s something to introduce you the two tools i’ll be using from now on. As i heard, there will also be more powerful seo tools coming in the future. So make sure you check out and bookmark SEM Labs.

More tips on using these two amazing tools is welcomed

The same this happens on the ground with dead leaves on the ground on left and green grass on the right.

Now i’ve chosen a really calm and maybe also a bit depressed colors from this photography of the trees in the woods. But if used right you can get a pretty nice mood of your art/project from it.

…from a photo of a damaged, cracked tower that was in the woods on a hill near me. (too bad it isn’t the Eiffel tower, London tower or even the Tiffany tower, since then i’d be a more interesting photograph). It was pretty amazing since it was build will plain bricks and cement and is pretty high. There’s a ledge on the side but you can’t go up there. Too bad since the view would be amazing.

Most people that see this photo ask me how did i get those clouds so blue. Well i used a Hoya cingular polarizator for my lens. when you turn it it filters rays so you get a clean view of the sky.

Here are the colors i’ve chosen from the cracked and damaged tower.

Here is the picture i used for it:

And here is the color palette i made out of it.

enjoy

Winner entries will get a minimum of $1,250. “Best in show” will get $300, the Best Digital Abstract or painting, and also the Best Digital Photograph will get $200.

The exhibit starts October 13 and will run to Nov 11. Entry fee is required.

More info -> Ken Fermoyle, digital.diversity@yahoo.com

What i really like about it, is that even if was darker, the red color of the mushroom head is really standing out. I also had some trouble taking the shot since it was under a dry tree that had it’s branches to the floor so i had to bend those to get a clean photo.

And here is the magic mushroom palette made from this photo:

Feel free to vote for it on Colour lovers

Since i have, use and also make new color schemes almost daily it will be a nice new addition to my blog. These color palettes can be used for a lot of stuff, for example webdesign as in when to choose colors for a text/background.

Also graphic design uses a lot of colors for posters or fliers. And let’s not forget the digital photography, where it’s gradients can be used as filters if done correctly (btw: i’ll be making a tutorial on this in the near future).