Design is everywhere in everything we do and see. I specialize in web, and graphic design. Have a look at my portfolio.
Author: 1visionmultimedia
web designer passionate about the creative process
Living Walls
Visit the Living Walls of Atlanta. http://murals-connect.webflow.io/
In The News – Ruby/Rails Programming for Beginners
Hello everyone. I wanted to give you a brief update on what I have been up to for the past few months. I found this great free course given at Coursera by the University of Mexico – Web Application Architectures. The course gave a basic overview on how databases play a major role in Rails applications and how to start a blog in Rails. The course touched on HTML, CSS, Javascript, Jquery and Ajax as well so that you could get an idea of how these tools all work together as a whole in creating your project. I have also been learning Ruby (Learn Ruby the Hard Way) and Javascript by myself as well.
What I realized going through the course was that backend programming is not as hard as I thought it would be. With a little patience and free time you can have yourself set up and creating small programs in a few weeks. I’ve also joined a few Meetup groups which gave me the support and mentoring I needed to keep going and learning along the way. Coursera will also offer a free programming course from the University of Michigan..check it out here.
As always…happy designing!
Skitch for Evernote
I have to admit – I’m a little late to the game as far as Evernote is concerned. I was a bit intimidated by it at first because its such a robust program and I didn’t want to take the time to actually “learn” it. But I kept hearing how great it was so I took a few youtube courses and now I feel like I can actually get some of the best features from it. One of them is Skitch. Its a great little tool that lets you annotate and share web clips and full page URLs. Of course there are many other tools out there that do this but since I was braving Evernote anyway I thought I would give it a try.
Ok – first off I had to download it. It sits as a standalone program to Evernote but you can send your Skitch file right into an Evernote notebook or copy and paste your link URL into an email. You can also share your file with Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. I tried sharing mine to Twitter which it did no problem.
The tools are a little bare and I found the highlighter tool hard to work with. I also couldn’t see where to move my annotations around if I wanted to (other than the undo button I was stumped). It also had a pixelate tool that I thought was cool if you wanted to edit something out real quick.
I wasn’t really sure what the shape boxes were for but I think I got the idea once I started a blank document and played around with it. Pretty cool actually.
Ok so- overall I liked it. Turns out it was kind of like Diigo and Microsoft Paint blended together. If you like Evernote (which I do) you will definitely get some use out of Stitch.
If you use Skitch and have any other tips please share.
In The News – Learn A New Programming Language This Year
If you are like me and want to desperately learn a new programming language but don’t have the time OR the funds to make a full-time commitment, Harvard College is offering an entry level free/paid course in programming as part of their Computer Science program. They discuss theory and practice with a chance to earn a certificate as well. You can study at your own pace and audit the course for free. If your not ready now you can register for other free courses in the future by joining their mailing list. Full details here
Google brings Snapseed-powered photo editing tools to Google+
Google is leveraging its purchase of the Snapseed app to add new photo editing tools to the Web version of Google+ in its Chrome browser.
The update is rolling out gradually, so not all users have it yet. If you do have the feature, a new “Edit” option will appear when you open up a Google+ photo in Chrome.
New features include auto enhance, selective adjust and filters. Non-Chrome users will have rudimentary editing options like crop and rotate, but they don’t have access to the advanced Snapseed tools.
source – TNW
Fun on The Fly with Pixlr Editor
I came across a great article the other day called The Best Chrome Apps You’re Probably Not Using and I was intrigued because I like to think that I know pretty much whats out there as far work tools go. Well, I decided to take a look anyway and of course Pixlr Editor caught my eye because I like to take pictures on the fly with my camera phone and we all know those aren’t the greatest quality. So I decided to give it a try and see what I came up with. It works right in the Chrome browser which is a plus right off the bat. Now I normally just try things right on launch without reading anything because I figure if I cant get it work in a few minutes I’m probably not going to really go any further anyway. I think most people are like that actually (tell me if i’m wrong 😉 ..i can accept that). Well anyway so I just opened it up and went for it.
I had a pic that I had taken at a recent art festival that I went to. I had already edited it in Firefox. This is what I came up with just playing around with the filters in Pixlr Editor.
Okay, looks good. I was impressed with the simplicity of it. It had all the normal editing tools – crop, burn, paint, stamp, etc and it looks just like Firefox and Photoshop in appearance so I wasn’t intimidated at all. But the real test was going to be making those tiny grainy cell pics look like something interesting. I opened a pic that I had taken a few days ago and just started playing around to see what I could come with. I have to say I was really impressed at what I could do in about 10 mins with the editor. Of course your not going to get as good as Photoshop but this was definitely good enough for quick editing and sharing on Facebook .
Good deal. This niffy little tool will definitely make me use Chrome a lot more than I have been. WeeVideo looked interesting too. But I’ll save that for another time.
If you have used Pixlr Editor please let me know. Happy Designing!
Come Get Social With Me!
New Conferences and A New Project!
I know I haven’t written in a while but I have been so busy learning so many new ways to organize myself with the new projects I have coming this year. I wanted to take the opportunity to list a few of the great web helpers that I found along the way as well some conferences that will be happening this year.
First off let me say that I have made my Pinterest page into a Business page so please stop by and check out my web articles board. Theres alot of good stuff there. I also came across some great tools for helping me gather information. Feedly, Go to meeting, Flipboard, CodeAcademy, and IFTTT have become my new best friends. I will be starting to learn Ruby next month and I will share my progress on the blog. I’m a little nervous but excited at the same time because I have always wanted to branch out into the coding side of things.
Speaking of learning new things there’s quite a few conferences around the world that might help you in your learning process as well.
FOUND Silicon Valley — 2 April 2013 — Mountain View, CA
FOUND Silicon Valley will feature presentations and discussions on the future of SEO and content marketing. The intimate event provides a chance for attendees to learn and network with industry veterans and fellow professionals in a collaborative format.
FinTech Hackathon – 6-7 April, 2013 – NYC
The goal of the FinTech Hackathon is to promote technological innovation in the financial
industry. The FinTech Hackathon brings together developers, designers, product managers and
marketers to launch innovative financial products and services with tools from several API, data
and platform partners.
GSummit SF 2013 – 16-19 April, 2013 – San Francisco
Come to GSummit (April 16-18) and earn your official gamification design certification, hear detailed practical examples of what works and what doesn’t from the experts themselves, network with the world’s top gamification designers and vendors, and get inspired. As consumer & employee attention has been harder and harder to obtain, you’ll learn how many companies have utilized gamification to create loyal customers & engaged employees.
Future Insights Live – 29 April – 2 May 2013 — Las Vegas
The 2nd annual Future Insights Live is a multi-track, 4-day tech conference, featuring an optional workshop day and 3 conference days. A combination of our existing shows – Future of Web Apps, Future of Web Design, and Future of Mobile – FILive will discuss the future technologies, platforms, and business models YOU should be using and implementing to launch the next big thing.
OuiShare Fest — 2-4 May 2013 — Paris
OuiShare Fest is the first major European event about the collaborative economy. Organized by OuiShare and La Fonderie, this three-day festival will bring together a global community of entrepreneurs, designers, makers, economists, investors, politicians and citizens to build a collaborative future in Paris.
Future of Web Design — 13-15 May 2013 — London
For the third straight year, we’ll meet in the amazing surroundings of The Brewery for three days of the very best in web design. Here’s what we’ll have on offer:
- 4 amazing day-long workshops led by the best in the business
- More technical topics and practical guidance than ever before
- Healthy doses of inspiration
- Creative challenges
- An instameet and other relaxed networking opportunities
- A rousing after-party and the chance to pull some shapes on the dance floor
- A showcase of amazing new talent on our Rising Stars stage
Find the complete list here: Upcoming tech and media events you should attend and special thanks to The Next Web who will be offering discounts to these events. Check out their site too – great stuff.
Ok..so that’s my update. I’ll be blogging much more in the coming months. As always keep in touch. Happy designing!
Happy New Year!…Let’s Start Designing
“Image courtesy of Staurt Miles /www. FreeDigitalPhotos.net”
Let me first take a minute to wish everyone…. Happy Holidays!
I hope your holiday was filled with family, friends and good times. Of course this time of the year is always a reflection of what we have accomplished and what we are looking forward to achieving with the new year. On that note I wanted to fill you in on some of the great online learning sites that can definitely help you on your way with your New Years resolutions if they involve coding and design.
I have been learning Ruby at Code Academy for the last few months. They have many other great free hands-on courses like CSS, Javascript, and Jquery. I like the fact that they keep in touch with you, ask you about your progress and offer help. That makes me feel like they really want me to succeed. They even give out badges along the way so you can see your progress and keep yourself motivated. I recently joined a Meetup in my city with other Ruby friends so we can learn together. I have found other great Meetup groups that get together monthly which make learning code fun as well as informative. Check for groups in your city.
If databases are your thing, Code School has a great Try R introductory course that can get you started learning this new language right away. But if your not really sure what interests you right now and want to try something new, give Udemy a look. They have courses on just about everything: Photography, Coding, Excel, and Adobe just to name a few.
I also wanted to mention a few design conferences starting in the New Year in case you can make one of them.
Mobile and Web Devicon San Francisco – Jan 29-31, 2013 http://www.mobilewebdevconference.com/
Style Frames NYC – Feb 7-8th, 2013 http://www.styleframes.tv/newyork/
An Event Apart Atlanta – Feb 18-20, 2013 http://aneventapart.com/event/atlanta-2013?/2013/atlanta/
SXSW Interactive Austin TX – March 8-12, 2013 http://sxsw.com/interactive
Please share any design conferences in your area as well.
Ok..so let’s get those creative juices flowing!..Happy New Year!
1VisionMultimedia 