Archive for July, 2009
Free Blog Button for Durban Bloggers
Jul 24th
Durbanites, here’s yours!
Let me know if anyone else out there wants to proudly display their Town/City/State/Country and I’ll do it for you!
MacNessa Design. Top Notch Graphic Design for Web.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Turmoil
- Baby Shower Invitations
- The Difficult Concept
- Freelancers: What are your best work hours?
- Resources for Graphic Designers: Graphic River
Free Button for Joburg Bloggers!
Jul 24th
Here’s a blog sidebar button for free, for all Johannesburg (and surrounds!) bloggers! Grab your code here, to paste into your sidebar.
Durban bloggers, I haven’t forgotten you either – and if anyone else out there wants to proudly display their City, Province, State, or Country, let me know and I will produce it for you.
MacNessa Design for top notch graphic design for web.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Turmoil
- Baby Shower Invitations
- The Difficult Concept
- Freelancers: What are your best work hours?
- Resources for Graphic Designers: Graphic River
Free Button for Capetonian Bloggers!
Jul 23rd
Help yourselves folks. If you need help placing the code onto your blogs let me know, and I’m happy to help.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Resources for Graphic Designers: Graphic River
- The Freebie and the Beast
- Design Wiblet of the Day
- Blog Banner for a Personal Blog
- Do You Have Gravatar?
Time To Upgrade Your Mac?
Jul 23rd
I love my Macbook.
It’s 2.5 years old and it’s still a major workhorse.
I’m running Tiger OS X.
It runs CS4 like a much bigger, stronger machine. Like a dream in fact. The smaller system memory places no limitations on its capabilities at all.
But here’s the thing. I don’t want to spend money on a larger monitor, when in reality I’d rather put that money towards my dream machine.
Because my dream machine will do several things, that my trusty macbook can’t.
No I’m not going to go into a lengthy explanation of system specs and operating system improvements, all I’m referring to is that wide, beautiful, 24 inches of viewing pleasure.
Having space to display my photographs, and my editing toolbars without hunching over to see them, down on my little screen.
*That* is, in a nutshell, what I’m after.
Have I ever mentioned before how much I want an iPhone 3G S too? Yeah, if anyone at Apple is listening and feeling generous, I would be *most* grateful, and most verbose, loquatious and chatty about the brilliance of Apple technology for EVER MORE.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Resources for Graphic Designers: Graphic River
- A Design Resolution of Sorts
- The Great Gift Debate
- More Customizations
- From Dreams to Reality, from Macbook to iMac
Bring the Free Stuff: And They Will Come
Jul 23rd
I reckon it’s time to resurrect the freebie-giveaways again soon on this blog.
It’s a proven traffic bringer, and we all know traffic = increased business = more money. So whatever your industry, whatever your line of work, whatever your trade, remember that giving away the occasional freebie, is totally worth it. Particularly if you believe in the seven fold return theory. 
So in the coming weeks, remember to check back often – I’ll post about whatever freebies I find starting with todays free insurance quotes, on the web, as well as some graphics stuff that I’ll be giving away too.
Remember if you miss the specific post, you can always catch up with the freebies under my ‘free stuff’ tab at the very top of the page.
Happy Internetting today folks!
Possibly Related Posts:
- The Freebie and the Beast
- Free Blog Button: Autumn up North
- Free Blog Button
- Free Blog Button for Durban Bloggers
- Free Button for Joburg Bloggers!
The Ultimate Mac Office: Seminar Chair!
Jul 21st
Chances are at some point in your photography or design related career, you’re going to give some kind of seminar or workshop. Knowledge sharing is a big in the world of SEO right now too. People are wanting to learn, and others are willing to share, and we’re close to a perfect world than we think!
Like how funky and cool are these? Way better than ordinary chairs, and so much more like classroom chairs for the 21st century.
Heck if I had cool funky chairs like this at school, I might have paid more attention, owing to the more vibey environment.
These would go so well with some of the other furniture we’ve chronicled here in the Macnessa.com ‘The Ultimate Mac Office’ Series.
Do check out the archives, or click the “Ultimate Mac Office” tag in the tag cloud in the side bar if you’d like to see more.
Add these chairs to a bright white table and you get an instant funky workshop vibe working right away. Stand them on hardy and versatile beechwood finish laminate floors and even better!
Just think of how you could co-ordinate soft furnishings with all the great colour choices!
These are definitely going on my ‘going to buy when I open my own design studio – for the collaboration/meeting area’ list!
Possibly Related Posts:
- Yet Another Reason Why Freelancing Rocks
- 3 Hours Sleep
- Turmoil
- Baby Shower Invitations
- Decking Out a New Office Space
Never Sacrifice Quality for Price
Jul 20th
This is something that one should always remember.
My mom always had a saying (in another language) which directly translated means, “Cheap buying, means Expensive Buying.” Referring to the fact that often buying cheap, ends up being expensive in the long run. As a Mac fan, this is SO true when it comes to buying PC’s. I went through THREE PC’s in one year, which simply either blew up, or the operating system suffered that blue screen of death. My beloved MacBook is two and a half years old and still going strong. Long live Apple.
This is also apparent in other areas of life. Riders (including myself) will tell you that the better quality breeches you buy, the more comfortable you are, and the more comfortable you are, the better you are able to ride. The better quality saddle you buy, the more comfortable your horse.
Now while there are always bargains to be had out there, remember that more often than not you get what you pay for. Sometimes cheaper prices (yes even in this current economy) can often give your buyers the wrong impression (oh well it’s cheap, so it must be rubbish).
Which is why I’m putting up my Photography and Graphic Design Rates. Ha ha. No, seriously. Because frankly, I’m worth it.
Just like this hazelnut latte I’m enjoying right now, is worth the extra $2 vs the takeout coffee I got from the Mickey D’s drive through this morning.
Price=Perspective.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Working Abroad and Sales Leads
- Yet Another Reason Why Freelancing Rocks
- Making things happen for yourself
- 3 Hours Sleep
- Cars
All Work is All Play
Jul 10th
What a joy to be able to do what I love. Graphic Design. Photography. SEO. All of it. I enjoy it all! I could nothing of so many people right now, that are stuck in jobs that they hate (in fact right now they’re clinging on in the current economic climate), which to me is almost nonsensical. But I realise that I am one of the lucky few that genuinely gets to do a job that I absolutely love. Sure freelancing has its downside too, but on the whole, the work itself is wonderful, stimulating and I love every aspect of it.
It is ever changing, and each project and graphic design job brings with it fresh new challenges, and each new photography client is a blank canvas (if you’ll excuse the ’sort of’ pun!).
So while I’m not stuck in a cubicle somewhere desperate to get away for a Caribbean cruise to retain some semblance of sanity, and a nice holiday would be very welcome, for now, I’m super grateful for all the fabulous work that has been put my way.
Graphic Design and Photography, you rock my world.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Yet Another Reason Why Freelancing Rocks
- 3 Hours Sleep
- Spontaneous Purchase or Constant Reviewer?
- Turmoil
- Baby Shower Invitations
Flyer Design: For a Video Production Company: Phase Three
Jul 9th
This Flyer Design project has certainly been very interesting, and has made me feel like I’m really continuously learning from the process. One can become set in ones ways and ones own tastes very quickly, and yet, it can be so liberating at the same time, with advertising design, to just LET GO and let the design take you where it wants to take you. You end up trying things you would have been hesitant try before, and then, better yet, end up really pleased with the results!
When designing flyers, you have to remember the purpose of the flyer and keep it central to your design process. It is after all advertising design, and it’s purpose is to increase the business of the person that you are designing the flyer for.
Here are the two most recent samples, that were shown to this client, I’ve since received feedback, and know where we will be going with the final piece, but since I don’t want anyone to miss out on ‘the graphic design process’, I’m going to show you all the pieces in order, until I finish the last one, and post it here in it’s complete form.
If you want to view this project from it’s outset, follow these links for Phase One, and Phase Two to view the flyers as they’ve gone through the process.
From here, we’ve taken a more direct view of the still images (from the clients portfolio of work) and put them into shiny metallic buttons. This is in keeping with the clients desire for a sleek/chrome and rich texture. It’s helped to unify the images as a whole, and yet, make them stand out at the same time.
This second version below, we removed the large call to action (call bejamin, matthew or thembisa) and played around with the font sizing slightly. Less being more in this case. We also added some more images from the clients portfolio in order to make a final selection for the final draft.
See below:
I’m due to send out one more proof on this, to the client, then I’m off to the shops to get a heart pendant necklace by the time I’m back later, it should be feedback time and the production of final draft. Designs for advertising and marketing purposes must ultimately lead to increased business for the client, so it has to be absolutely perfect, as with any other graphic design project. If it’s the first thing a potential new client sees, then it had better grab their attention, be clear about what the business offers, and have enough clear information to warrant futher investigation by the potential client.
I will be posting the final draft as soon as it has client approval, and then moving onto my next project which is a logo design for an equine shiatsu therapist – which is going to be super, super exciting!
Possibly Related Posts:
- Yet Another Reason Why Freelancing Rocks
- 3 Hours Sleep
- Spontaneous Purchase or Constant Reviewer?
- Turmoil
- Baby Shower Invitations
The Ultimate Mac Office: Fittings
Jul 6th
I occasionally post about things that I’d like to incorporate into a fresh new home office space, when I get around to having a ‘fresh new space’ to makeover from scratch.
I’ve talked about various rugs, bookcases, desks and other things that are swish, cool and funky enough to be associated with a sleek new 24″ iMac.
But what about that part of the home office that the majority of clients rarely get to see? The bathroom! Theoretically it probably isn’t part of a home office, but it’s still a part of your daily life, and I’m sure you visit it at least once during the course of your ‘at home’ working day. So it counts. Because I say so.
So let’s talk faucets!
How about this kind? They’re so edgy! How about these? It would be impossible to decide on the spot. So many options!
Possibly Related Posts:
- Yet Another Reason Why Freelancing Rocks
- 3 Hours Sleep
- Turmoil
- Decking Out a New Office Space
- Freelancers: What are your best work hours?
