Century Marketing and Mobile Applications?

Posted on February 21, 2012 by John Sieczkowski

Mobile applications have really taken off the last couple of years. With heavyweights like Apple and Google stepping up and creating user friendly and developer friendly platforms, smart phones have become mainstream and something many of us feel we can’t live without.

We have been keeping a close eye on mobile applications and seeing how they relate to our customer base and if it’s a wise decision or not. Last year we did a lot more with mobile website but there is just more you can do with a mobile application such as having access to the great on board features like GPS, camera, accelerometer, touch screen capture (signatures) and using the app offline among other things.

There is a cost that comes with developing for smartphones however. Time, research, personnel, and clients that need the service!

Working with small businesses most don’t have the need nor the extra money to develop a huge website let alone a custom mobile application. However, with production costs coming down and more libraries of code readily available, we are getting closer and closer to that point of being able to provide these services to our clients.

If you are interested in this type of service please get a hold of us. The more we hear from our client base about wanting this, we’ll move forward with it sooner. We are here to serve our clients and provide what they want and what they need so let’s hear your opinion on this topic!

Top Design Trends

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Bradi Horton

Using lighter color palettes
Using a lighter color palette is becoming a trend. In past years, bright colors were used frequently in design. Make it a point to stand out in whatever color palette you choose to use, it will make the world of difference.

Patterns in your design
A lot of luxury brand name designs use a pattern, it makes the product feel like one of a kind and makes a bold statement.

Sustainability
Its a big and important way to help the environment. The grocery reusable totes and plastic cups instead of paper are everywhere! A lot of designers are using more recycled product to make a different.

Light textures
By using a light texture, it creates a depth to the design and helps it stand out, which is the main purpose of design. The texture is also called noise, and by adding this it will add an interesting feel and visual effect for the viewers.

There are so many small details that can make or break a design, in addition to the ones above. A designer should take into consideration all the fine details when designing a piece, because that is what really will push your piece to the next level.

JQuery, Why Aren’t You Using it Yet?

Posted on February 15, 2012 by John Sieczkowski

jQuery is a great library of javascript code that makes event handling much easier and animation much easier in an HTML/CSS/JavaScript based website.

From their website: “jQuery is a fast and concise JavaScript Library that simplifies HTML document traversing, event handling, animating, and Ajax interactions for rapid web development. jQuery is designed to change the way that you write JavaScript.”

This library has been around for quite a while but some new developers or developers stuck in the past still don’t implement it for some reason. Are you one of them?

Once you learn the code and realize how easily you can make fun interactive pieces to websites you’ll be hooked. Whether it’s form interaction, hidden slides of information, animating photo galleries, AJAX interfaces, and countless other things. jQuery really does a lot of the heavy lifting that used to drive us web developers crazy when looking for functionality and interactivity of websites.

Other developers have taken the jQuery library and made their own additions to the library furthering the flexibility and functionality. Cycle is one that is great for photo galleries. Check it out here: jQuery Cycle Plugin

There is plenty of sample code for beginners and is a very easy plugin to use that adds a good bit of interactivity to a site. Allows you to do something out of the ordinary and help make your site unique.

Flash used to be the mainstay for web animation but it is quickly being replaced with javascript and HTML5. We are just waiting on Microsoft to bring IE up to speed with the rest of technology and support HTML5. jQuery is supported by all as it’s a javascript library and it offers a lot of bang in a very small package.

How to Use the Photoshop Patch Tool

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Bradi Horton

There are always those circumstances where a photo did not turn out just the way that you wanted. No worries, with today’s sources, you can easily fix those with tools. For a lot of the issues, you can use the patch tool or the clone tool to fix any misshapes.

To fix an area, select the patch tool in the toolbar of photoshop. You can use the patch tool, the same as you would use the lasso tool. Select the area that you are wanting to remove for the picture. Once selected, drag the area away from the area you are wanting removed and line up to match the area. The area will now be patched. If there are still areas that need fixed or touched up, use the clone tool to make those minor fixes to perfect the area. Some patching and cloning might need done more than once to make the finishes look more natural.

Check out this great tutorial by Terry White on how to use the patch tool

How much Photoshop work is too much?

Posted on January 31, 2012 by John Sieczkowski

I heard this on the radio when driving into work today and decided to check it out. The Kardashian’s have a new ad for the line of jeans and it show all three girls topless wearing just the jeans. Don’t worry, it’s a PG-13 picture, but the real question I thought of is how much Photoshop work was done to this picture and how much makeup? You can view an article and the picture here.

That also made me think of the design world and showing a companies photography, how much editing work is OK and when do you draw the line of going too far in enhancing a photo? Some common things are cleaning up a person’s face who has a pimple or hair isn’t perfect, red eye is common on consumer end cameras, and so on. I’ve also seen and personally replace the sky in exterior shots of houses, put in landscaping that wasn’t there, and cleaned up oil stains in the garage or carpet stains. These are just a few of the many. Continue reading →

Pella Expo

Posted on January 27, 2012 by John Sieczkowski

This past Tuesday, Jessica and I (and later Phil) manned the booth we had at the Pella Expo at Arrowhead Stadium.

This was our first tradeshow that we had done and we were very impressed with how it went. The expo was invitation only and was geared towards home builders, remodelers, and architects. As many of you know, we have a lot of clients in these industries and know it well! Continue reading →

Banners as Advertisement

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Bradi Horton

For a company to be successful they must advertise to the company’s fullest & stay ahead of their competition, this requires advertising. Banners are a very cost effective way to advertise one’s company and can range in price depending on the size.The typical size of a banner is 4×6 or 5×8, but banners can be made to any size needed depending on where you are putting it. Continue reading →

SOPA and PIPA votes delayed

Posted on January 20, 2012 by John Sieczkowski

Some of you may have heard about the SOPA and PIPA bills in congress to protect intellectual property. In reality, these bills will put undue burden on internet providers, search engines, and corporations.

On Wednesday, Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia went “black” for the entire day to protest the bills and to help bring exposure to them. They are extremely fearful of freedom of speech being trampled with these bills and a regulated internet. If you think that’s may not be so bad, have you read articles about internet users in China and how they can’t access certain sites? Or Iran?

More of you probably saw on Wednesday that Google put a black bock over their logo in a form of protest of these bills.

Being a web developer and growing up at the right time to have known life without the internet and life with it, very well, I can’t imagine unrealistic handicaps being placed on the internet and freedom of speech here in the United States!!! Internet piracy of software, music, and other intellectual items is a very real problem and must be addressed appropriately. Bring in the CEOs of Google, Wikipedia, news agencies, software manufacturers and collectively figure out how to take care of this issue without trampling the rights of people.

Seeing how the government tends to screw up most everything they touch, they should stay away from enacting laws regulating internet usage without full support from a wide range of parties involved.

Let’s Sell Online!

Posted on January 13, 2012 by John Sieczkowski

With the down economy for the past 5 years a fair number of people who have lost their jobs are giving a go at starting their own business. High unemployment rates and a tight job market, some have decided this was the time to be their own boss and take that step into owning their own business.

This is great! And our company can help you market yourself and make your one man operation look like a million bucks without breaking the bank. However, we’ve seen it too often that people think they can put up that website, sell online, and the sales will come pouring in. Afterall, anyone in the world can buy off the internet. Continue reading →

Vehicle Graphics and Wraps

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Bradi Horton

Did you know that the average delivery truck has 16 million viewers per year? Thats a lot of advertisement! Vehicle graphics are a great way to reach out to potential customers at a very affordable cost. Yes, there is the initial payment for the vehicle graphic to be designed and applied, but the graphics will last you years, and you don’t have to pay a penny more for that advertisement over those next few years.
Continue reading →