One of my website clients, Brooke Stoddard of Archon Editorial (www.archoneditorial.com) has come out with his new book, World in the Balance: The Perilous Months of June-October 1940.

This, turns out, is quite a good read! I am zipping through it, held in suspense over events which Brooke lays out quickly and directly. I grew up in Germany, age 12 – 17. We learned extensively about WWII. However the early part of my learning in the German school, how the political situation lead up to Hitler’s taking over, was hard for me to understand. It was in German, for one thing. And government words, at the age of 13 or 14, didn’t mean much to me. I wouldn’t have really known them in English. When you’re in a foreign language environment, you have hundreds of words coming at you daily. Some, you don’t understand, and never take the time to look up, being young.

Anyway, having grown up there, and this history being so immediate, with many familiar names which I’ve known nothing about ’till now, this book makes me feel like I am finally catching up on history I really should know better.

We just posted this image of the book on Brooke’s website yesterday. We added ordering instructions, and Brooke has a paypal button for credit card payments.

www.archoneditorial.com

This poor little Blog page! What with all my new social pages, started this year, I am not paying as much attention to this Blog! Partly, because I’m not sure if anyone ever really reads it! Also, there’s the feeling that I should be coming up with a grand article to write here! Well, grand articles are more difficult to come up with, so instead I’ll just impart the latest news, for anyone who does stray into here. Probably just my competitors, to see what I’m up to… Hi, competitors!

So, news is, that I just sent out the Yellow Dot Holiday Newsletter, at long last! What with doing some work downtown this Autumn, my newsletter got delayed a bit. I usually try to send it towards the end of November.

And for this newsletter, I did something grand indeed! I have been working for DAYS, on this video.  There is a link in the newsletter, that takes folks to the Yellow Dot YouTube page, where they can see my video.

My purpose with the video, is mainly to show off cool motion graphics, which include cool art, done by me, of course. It’s been part of my business plan all along, to get into motion graphics. The dream/hope/goal, is to do neato artsy intros and endings for movies!

So, over the years, I’ve figured out what software does motion graphics, bought the software, paying for the software, and have been learning the software. The capabilites are incredible. In fact the capabilities of your cell phone  probably way out-weigh what you know how to do with it. So bit by bit, bouncing ball graphic by snow effect, I am delving into this world of motion. Most of my instructors are young guys who have put up instructional videos on the internet. Some better than others. One guy had his grunge music playing in the background as he mumbled away. Actually, I am amused and impressed by these young men, who take the time and care to create these thoughtful instructions. Often they are far better than Adobe’s completely obtuse help page. I was going to post here, the outrageous incoherent Adobe instruction, but now I can’t find it…

Here is the video link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/YellowDotDesigns

Bert and Ernie, 2011. Butternut and Spaghetti Squashes.

A little creative fun this October 31st. For some reason, pumpkins are in low supply this year? So, I got squashes and found them to be great for carving! And, the seeds roast up real well too!

(This photo was taken using a tri-pod and a super long exposure.)

Ellen

Yellow Dot Designs would like to feature a photographer in the next newsletter for Nov/Dec/holiday season. Not just any photographer, as today, many people with a camera call themselves a photographer. No, I mean a professional, who would like his or her work featured, and a small article about their business, in the next Yellow Dot Designs newsletter. There is a fee involved, so please contact me if you or someone you know is interested! 703-328-8046 or email creative@yellowdotdesigns.com.

It is rainy and cool, thanks to Hurrican Lee, which is further south, but sending us its effects. Just the way to launch back into work after Labor Day!

I have recently been preparing documents for print for a trade association client. They gave me their text and a simple lay-out they imagined would work. I looked at their other marketing and membership materials, and knew that in the recent past their materials were bright, dynamic and modern looking. So I borrowed from that look, the fonts, and surprised them with a full-color layout which was much more exciting than the proposed one. They are thrilled, and the brochure is off at the printer’s now!

Recently, I went to a talk by Marc Willson, former marketing guru for businesses like Britches of Georgetown, Crown Books and others. Marc talked about how not only is the design of your logo and business cards important, but as a retailer the design of your space and arrangement of your products is crucial.

He suggests having a focal point for your products. Chose something large and eye catching. Put smaller products around it to draw the eye. Even your store lay-out should take into account that Americans walk in, turn right, and circulate counter-clockwise.

The outside of your building makes a huge impression on future customers. Clutter, scotch tape or hand-written signs will not do.

In addition to your store name being visible, your web address and a printed “QR code” should be in the lower part of your front window. Your customers can scan your QR code with their smart phones even when you are closed. That code can take them to your website, or even a video, showing a personal introduction to your products and services! What better way to connect, immediately, with future customers? Contact Yellow Dot Designs for more information on QR codes or sign design!

Sometimes people say they don’t want to “design” something. They just want to get it done. OK, so, where do you start? What will it look like? “It’s all in my head,” they say.

If it’s a logo, maybe they find one online. A few months later, they want to use the logo for a large backdrop at a trade show. However, the logo has many colors and screens, and the backdrop printer needs an outline file and two colors. Their online logo cannot be sized that big!

Design is the part where you think things through. It’s where you look at what your competitor is doing. You think about it now, so you don’t have a surprise later.

Everything around you was designed. Your house, the width of it, the style of the porch, the woodwork. Your forks and knives, your car, your color printer, your sweater, the book you’re reading, the TV, everything.

Recently, I have dealt with the design of our new screen porch.

Designed Screen Porch-Built by Ellen, Summer 2011

Over the years I had been figuring out what I want. How would it be used? I wanted a better view of the trees. I wanted more protection from rain. One roof surface would be best for collecting rain water. So, ALine-Architecture figured out how a new structure would work and look.

The same thing goes for your signage, your mailing or website. It has to ‘work’, first of all. Can your sign be seen from all angles? Can you read it from a distance? Is your website too cluttered? Can people find what they need right away? Is your name where they are looking for it?

Designers think all these things through, using the requirements you have for the project. Don’t let yourself be surprised once your mailing is mailed, or your website is launched! Have it designed!

The family website is finally coming along well. I have even had an email chat with the creator of the “theme”. There are many different themes, or templates to choose from, for your Wordpress site. They are  created by various developers around the world. If you have a question on how to do something with the template, you can actually email them in the blog format. This guy is Russian, and he actually wrote back!

So, you pick out a template that you like. Then you hire a designer, like me, to customize the template with your colors, headers etc.

Wordpress websites are gaining in popularity because people want to be able to make their own changes to their site.  So I am working on a website for my family, where I’ll be uploading old photos. Since it will be a Wordpress website, which is at its core a blogging website, people will be able to comment or have discussions.

Notice I finally improved the background image for this Blog page! It now matches the rest of the Yellow Dot website a bit better.

I am learning to make videos! Using professional video production software which can basically do anything. I just have to learn it! My latest effort took 3 WEEKS of mostly solid working on it, for 46 seconds of video!

The Egg Video can be seen on my YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/YellowDotDesigns

The first thing is to figure out WHAT it has to say, and write a narration. Fortunately, I’ve had wonderful expert advice from Margaret Kennedy, a professional film maker. Her business is called Old Town Productions. Margaret has schooled me on the proper way to do voice over! Start with a towel over your head… makes quite the difference! My first voice over on the egg video was a disaster. Which was strange because I couldn’t really tell my voice was way too low till everyone kept telling me so! So I re-did the voiceover.

Anyway, the purpose of all this, is to be able to create small promotional videos, or any type for that matter, for people’s websites. The video file gets scrunched down to a smaller size for the web. You can then post it on  your facebook page, create a YouTube page, AND tweet about it on Twitter.

My interest in it all, is the animated graphics! I love the creative intro graphics on so many movies these days. I want to integrate illustration, type and motion.

The egg video came about because I LIKE PAINTING EGGS! Once, while working on Jan’s coffee cart, at Easter time I had an effort to make and sell painted eggs. The eggs were blown, painted varnished and little hanging loops attached. I sold them from the coffee cart at 15th and K Street for ridiculously low prices.

So, this time I wanted to do some Spring/Easter effort, using eggs. Decorating seemed a bit…I don’t know – what is the message. So the idea evolved into faces on eggs so they could be little personalities in the video. Once I had my narration, I thought it would be fun to have a recognizable character for the Ad Agency, from the terrific and popular TV show Mad Men. Of which I have watched every episode! So after a LOT of time looking for a good photo online of John Hamm, the actor, I finally found one, and onto the egg it went! (Hours of painting itsy bitsy!) Once in the computer, I could clean up and adjust the painted faces too. I’m a bit disappointed that my photo of the egg ended up making them look a bit flat. Margaret says I should start with video footage of the egg, rather than from still pictures. I guess I’m so used to working with still photography! I need to adjust my thinking!