Chocolate promos?

Besides business card and letterhead, have you ever created any kind of promotional mailer piece for yourself as a designer? So much emphasis has been placed on the online portfolio of late that I feel physical, tangible methods of self-promotion have fallen by the wayside among designers entering the industry today. But that’s exactly why a well-done mailer can catch people’s attention. (more…)

You asked your legal, copyright and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are taken from comments posted on the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.

Hello Jean,

So nice to hear that you are doing this. I am new to the field and my first question is: On all sites you see the copyright symbol. Who is responsible for obtaining the copyright on a website, and how does one go about getting this done? Also, when I design a label or do artwork for a client, and he/she pays me for the job, who is the rightful owner of the work?

(more…)

The Golden Age of Design

We lucky few are to be congratulated! Those designers and design strategists among us have, in my opinion, entered the industry exactly at the right time. Never before has design been more valued. Elevated from a “marketing service” to a corporate ethos, design has just recently been rightfully recognized as an unique strategic business building, and uniquely profit-generating tool.

“Show Me the Money”

While we now live in the golden age of design, we also live in the age of accountability. Despite its recent attacks, there’s still a whole lot of “Six Sigma” analysis out there: a large number of executives who live and die by their ability to quantify their every decision based on its direct impact on bottom line profits. So how does design survive under this specter of financial scrutiny? Can design be quantified? (more…)

In the last couple releases, Flash has made it very easy to put video online. From square one, there’s not much too it: with a new FLA document open, select File > Import > Import Video, click through the step-by-step Video Import wizard, and watch as your video content is effortlessly converted from a variety of file types—AVI, MOV, MPG, WMV, and more—to the format supported by Flash Player itself, which is FLV. If you use the default choices, Flash even puts a copy of the FLVPlayback component on the Stage for you, wiring it up automatically to load your new video content. The FLVPlayback component features a number of built-in skins, which provide a variety of VCR-like controls (pause/play, progress indicator/scrubber, volume slider, and the like) in numerous color schemes. Additional preferences may be configured in the Parameters tab, which becomes available when you click FLVPlayback on the Stage to select it.

As painless as the above is, there’s one snag that may cost you some unwanted bandwidth hassle. (more…)

With loads of tools, effects, and filters, GraphicConverter does much more than you may expect.

Just about every Mac user has heard of GraphicConverter, and likely used it at some point or another. It’s one of those little sharewares that has come installed on some Macs in the past and has been indispensable for doing exactly what its name says (and a lot more).

Thorsten Lemke at Lemkesoft has been making and updating GraphicConverter for years. His commitment to it is clear in the constant updates (every couple of months!) and personal email support. The app license costs $35, but you can give it a try for free, and most of the updates are free as well. That said, the 6.0 update will cost you ($35 new, $20 if you have a previous version)… but is it worth it? (more…)

You asked your legal, copyright and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are taken from comments posted on the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.

Hello Jean,

I have an idea for a “workbook” that people would use in conjunction with a self-help book and movie already in existence. Although this is just an example, it’s as if I wanted to design, write, and sell “Implementing POWERFUL LIVING in Your Own Life,” when “Powerful Living” was written by a different author.

Naturally, I don’t want to contact that author with the idea, because he could implement my idea himself.

Is this possible? Legal? What’s your advice?

Thanks,
Merry

Dear Merry-

You cannot create a workbook based on an existing book and movie without the permission of the copyright owner of the book and movie. What you are creating is a derivative work which you need the permission of the copyright owner to create. My advice is to contact the author with your proposal and ask for a license. - Jean

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DISCLAIMER:
Ask Jean responses consist of general legal information and do not constitute specific legal advice or create an attorney client privilege. Please consult your own attorney about your specific legal issues

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There’s no question that every designer and every fine artist needs a digital portfolio—or at least every one that wants to get design jobs or gallery showings. If you haven’t spent a lot of time doing web design, this can be a daunting task.

Designing a Digital Portfolio is written for the artist or designer that works on many standalone pieces (like illustrations, brochures, photographs, or even short films), and has not had the need to consider things like navigation, information architecture, and screen presentation before. The aim of this book is to get you familiar with digitizing and presenting your work digitally, and in turn to be able to use this digital portfolio to further your career. (more…)

Sponsored by the International Academy of Visual Arts, the W³ is the first major web competition to be accessible to the biggest agencies, the smallest firms, and everyone in between.

In addition to honoring great Websites and Web Marketing programs, this year the W³ will also award the best in web video, reflecting the explosion of video content created particularly for the internet. It’s time to show off your award winning interactive and web work!

Final Extended Entry Deadline: August 17th 2007
Final Entry Fee: $95.00 Per Entry
Details

Regular Notes on Design readers may recall our recent interview with Matthew Richmond of The Chopping Block. In addition to his popular design firm’s usual web projects, they recently built two phenomenal new panels for Adobe Illustrator CS3: kuler and knowhow. According to Richmond, these panels are valuable to just about every Illustrator user, so let’s find out how… (more…)

The 6th edition of the annual competition created as a tribute to Francisco Mantecón, who was responsible for the design of the corporate image of Bodegas Terras Gauda wine company. The winning entry will form the basis for the company’s advertising campaign for a one year period as well as a cash prize of 6,000 Euros.

Participants may base their entries on the theme of their choice, although ideally they will reflect corporate issues of the organizing company, principally relating to its white wines. Any form of photographic, painting or computerized techniques, may be used. Each participant is allowed to present a maximum of two entries.

Deadline: September 30, 2007

Details