By MacNessa, on July 25th, 2010%
With the advent of the laptop, it seems as though many folks have embraced the trend of laptop bags rather than the traditional briefcase.
With the huge selection of laptop cases out there, one is really spoiled for choice anyway. But are these modern choices, necessarily correct for all professionals? A messenger style bag may work well for a graphic designer in a funky, young studio, but what if you want a more traditional look to your bag, and want to shop for a more traditional, smarter looking leather briefcase?
Particularly if you are in the legal profession, a leather briefcase can make a big difference to your overall appearance, and with the beautiful selection available online today, you need not search long to find beautiful examples, even ones specially crafted to hold laptops and notebooks securely and with added padding and protection.
How about Architects? Doctors? Accountants? All of these more traditional professions would certainly benefit from the crafted look of a really smart leather briefcase. There are so many designs out there that are suitable for men, and an ever growing selection with a more delicate appearance for women.
Have you found a source that sells really great ones?
What kind of briefcase do you prefer?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
By MacNessa, on July 20th, 2010%
I’ve been looking for an offline blog editor for awhile now. So I was excited to try out this app that I saw featured on Mac App Storm.
I write for four blogs, and the constant ‘log in – log out’ was wearing a little thin. Particularly when I want to get out four posts in the morning with my first three cups of coffee.
This is the first time I’ve found a blog editor that truly works offline.
My favourite feature is the live preview that I can see while I’m typing. NICE.
MarsEdit is a product offered by Mac Software developers Red Sweater, and it costs a mere $39.95 (USD). I’m currently on day 1 of the 30 day free trial, so I’ll let you all know how it goes. So far, so good. Very very good.
It downloaded in a couple of seconds, installed just as fast, and because of the familiar Mac based interface I have had ZERO problems figuring out how to add my blogs etc. The fact that it has a handy ‘auto-detect’ feature, and simply asks for my blogs URL, username and password, made it *that* much easier to get started.
The only downside to this product (not for me, but for some) is that it is a Mac only App, but since Apple are making major strides into the PC dominated market here, I’m guessing I’m not the only person who is going to be enjoying this application soon.
It has support for many of the major blogging platforms including WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, Typepad, Squarespace, Movable Type and dozens more through the Atom publishing protocol.
You can also insert pictures as you compose your post, and it uploads them for you upon hitting publish!
You can easily scan your iPhoto galleries or other folders to find the pictures you want – and it even has support to link up with your flickr account to insert photographs from there.
It may well be the best thing for blogging since sliced bread! If you’re a geek like me and sometimes want to tinker about with the html, then there’s an option for that too.
So if you’re looking for an offline blog editor that lets you do everything offline, and then takes care of the rest for you don’t miss out on this app.
By MacNessa, on July 12th, 2010%
Uncapped internet is not a real reality in South Africa.
Not even with the new so called uncapped internet offerings from the likes of Mweb, Afrihost, Axxess etc are things truly uncapped, since they begin to throttle line speeds at around 60gigs.
So many people are on internet packages which have a cap. The worst of these is 3G which have packages starting form 40mb. That might last me a day, if I’m lucky!
We opted to go with Neotel – as they are the official opposition to the ‘giant conglomerate’ of Telkom, and offer a wireless solution that is covered in the area that we live in. While Neotel do offer an unlimited solution as a package deal with a home phone etc etc, we opted to go with the Data only option – capped at 10gigs for the time being. We do have the option to update to 15gigs if necessary.
But how on earth do we monitor our usage to ensure that our service provider is billing us correctly? We are not disconnected if we exceed our cap, simply billed ‘out of bundle’ for the extra. Now while the out of bundle costs are more expensive, they’re nowhere near the highway robbery of Mweb’s out of bundle 3G data charges – so we’re lucky in that respect. But since we don’t like financial situations that we cannot monitor it became imperative for us to find a solution that allows us to accurately monitor our internet bandwith usuage to compare with our statement at the end of the month.
 I found just that tool in Surplus Meter. So now I’m able to accurately guage my internet usage, and it even goes so far as to show me my average daily usage, and how that is affected by how much I’ve already used for the month. I’m able to pick a start date, select a cap, easily reset if there is an issue – and it works out everything according to what I enter, and my usage.
So now, when I get closer to my internet cap, instead of carrying on blindly, perhaps I’ll consider top fat burners, or at least get off my work butt and go and get some exercise instead!
Best of all? Surplus Meter is absolutely free.
By MacNessa, on July 10th, 2010%
 It is hardly surprising that many folks suffer from sleeping problems these days, and look to sleep aids for a solution.
Often times we think it’s because of increased stress (hands up who is not experiencing increased stress right now), poor diet, lack of exercise etc leading to lying awake at night trying to sleep.
The fact is though that it’s probably a combination of all of these things, not just one or two – although often times – the problem can be solved by simply purchasing a new mattress. Your bed is the often over looked culprit in losing a nights sleep. Mattresses should be turned once a month (unless you have one of those ‘no-turn’ ones) and replaced at least every 2 years. How many of us can say we do that?
My advice would be to start by looking at the obvious and eliminate the problems like a doctor makes a diagnoses by discovering what you *don’t* have before turning to pharmaceuticals for help.
By MacNessa, on July 10th, 2010%
Photoshop is an amazing tool for photo editing.
That fact remains undisputed!
Particularly if you want to take a photograph and figure out how to get rid of blackheads in a hurry.
Here’s a small (and extremely gross example).
 There are two choices when dealing with retouching like this – well actually there are a few more, but these are the most common treatments of blemish removal in retouching, and also the easiest.
First choice up is the healing tool, useful for when the blemish is quite small.
Here is where you can find the healing tool in CS4 (also found in this general area in CS, CS2 and 3). The default setting is for it to be docked to the left hand side of your workspace panel either in a single column or a shorter, double column.
Here is the result of using the healing tool directly onto the blemish, using about 5 clicks of it around the image.
Several smaller clicks works much better than trying to cover the blemish with one large click.
 It’s not perfect – but with a well practiced hand you can make vast improvements on portrait photos using this technique.
The other method commonly used is the Clone Stamp tool.
The Clone stamp tool is best used when the area surrounding the blemish is of good quality, and you want to reproduce (clone) this skin over the blemished area to make the blemish disappear.
Here is where you will find the clone stamp tool in Photoshop versons CS through CS4…
The clone stamp tool sits along with the Clone pattern tool so make sure you have the correct one selected.
Holding down the button will open up the two buttons so that you can ensure you have the correct one for the tool at hand.
CS4 asks that you click a selection point from where it will clone the information, and you do this by holding down the ALT key (on a Mac) and then selecting the source from where you will begin cloning.
It is a wise idea to select from an area that has the closest similar coloring to the area you are going to clone over, so if you select an area too far away, the colors will be too different and you may make it look even worse.
In this case, the skin surrounding the blemish wasn’t great either, so the result of using the clone stamp tool was less successful than the healing tool, but often a combination of the two gives you the best result.
What techniques have you tried for removing skin blemishes using Photoshop?
Do you have a better technique that you’d like to share with us?
I’d love to hear from any magazine based celebrity retouchers about their preferred techniques to share with our readers.
Pop me an email or leave a comment below.
By MacNessa, on July 8th, 2010%
Stock elements are vectors, icons, wiblets, bits and pieces that are sold by graphic designers – to make money and stave off that whole ‘starving artist’ mantle, to other designers and print artists to lighten their work flow.
Some folks don’t understand that it’s perfectly acceptable to slot in some pre-designed buttons (for example) to a website design, if you find the perfect element, and the budget of the client does not allow for time to design new ones from scratch. Finding that perfect button that says click here can help a design that has become stuck, start to flow again.
The same goes for icons, and other vectors that are in popular demand these days. Also highly in demand are elements that improve our work spaces such as Photoshop Actions, textures, custom shapes and brushes which can really help out a designer who is short on time, and facing that major deadline.
A great source for Stock Vectors and a *mountain* of other great stuff can be found at the Envato Marketplaces by clicking below. Their stuff is really well priced and they take Paypal!
By MacNessa, on July 6th, 2010%
So did you have a good 4th of July?
 I suppose the desire to be outdoors grilling something over the fire or hot coals, or on the outdoor electric grill is inherent in all cultures where a pioneering, settler spirit pervades their history.
So even though here in South Africa, we (obviously) do not celebrate the fourth of July the same way Americans do, we are happy to make any excuse to fire up the ‘braai’ and bar-b-que some meat, and Sunday’s perfect weather was just perfect to allow us to do this, whilst sitting outside sipping some vintage root beer that I found at the supermarket (I’m on cold and flu meds otherwise that would have been white wine in my hand) and enjoying the wintry sunshine.
Besides grilling food is so much healthier than frying or roasting it, and when something is flame grilled it just tastes so outdoorsy doesn’t it?
I think if I lived in an apartment block where there was no built in barbeque, I would definitely have an electric grill to still enjoy that lazy Sunday afternoon bar-b-que feeling that is part of my culture.
By MacNessa, on July 3rd, 2010%
Wow, it has been quiet around here the last 48 hours or so… this can be attributed to two things.
1. I have had a raging headcold, and with the resulting meds that I had to take, I wasn’t entirely lucid enough to trust myself to write, and actually make sense…
2. I have a veritable mountain of design work to get on with, as four new clients accepted quotes that I’d sent out in the last 3 weeks – and they literally all came back to me on the same day. So it’s busy times around chateau le’Macnessa, or something else suitably cool sounding (yes I’m still on meds).
So, the coffee machine is fired up and ready, the healthy snacks are piled up and ready for the week ahead (also the last week of the school holidays around these parts), all I need now is to roll in a portable oxygen concentrator and I should be good to go!
I will catch you all on the flip side of all this awesome design work, although I might pop in with some short product related posts in between, as and when I can.
Live long and prosper peeps!
By MacNessa, on July 1st, 2010%
I love it when design and technology meet!
Check out these awesome USB drives!
  
Aren’t they just gorgeous! I’d like to have a set all lined up.
Did you know that these make great gifts? Or put your logo on them and turn them into custom usb drives, wouldn’t that be a great promotional tool?
Why not preload them with a few items of marketing material and your contact details and send them out as gifts to win new clients, or to thank existing clients?
Check out *these* cute USB drive wristbands! Perfect if you’re at college and want to safeguard your notes after the lecture.
By MacNessa, on July 1st, 2010%
So that little fledgling design and advertising agency you started in your guest bedroom…?
Yeah.
It just got huge.
You have totally rocked at the freelance gig and decided to take it to the big game.
You buy office space, you furnish the office with the coolest and trendiest gear you can find.
Then the interior designer corners you and asks you which of the hand dryers you prefer for the ladies bathroom.
Really?
Really.
There are so many things that we as designers don’t realise about running our own businesses especially when they expand to such an extent. Yes suddenly there are thousands of decisions demanding your time, time away from designing, which is why you went to art school isn’t it? Not to manage nitty gritty day to day operations and office space queries like this.
It kind of puts the whole cubicle scenario in a slightly better light doesn’t it? Heh.
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