hello again. Long time no see

if you are looking for inspiration here are my favorite sites with great ideas

logo , websites , advertising

i hope you will find great ideas

hi friends, please excuse my slower posting these days… i’m travelling the computer hell here…

(i’ve reinstalled windows the second time… but’s still going blue… i think it’s something else… i think i need a new one…)

do you have any advice for me? should i look for a macbook? of for a laptop pc? can you recommend me a suitable graphic design computer configuration? and a brand?

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comment “graphic design computer to avoid computer hell”

i’m almost sure, everyone of us received a (hopefully) nice surprise last week, as google’s just updated it’s pageranks.

i’ve increased from 0 up to 4… so, this being my first blog… i’m quite happy for that!
in this post i’ll present the tools and methods i’ve used to do this.

1. onsite:
- i’ve installed headspace plugin: it is the most complex and flexible tool i’ve found for the manipulation of metadata.

- i’ve submitted my site with google webmasters and i use google analytics.

- i analyse keywords that drive natural traffic into my site and i try to strengthen my site on those keywords. i do that with creating more relevant content on them.

- i moved my blog directly on the homepage url. at the beginning i’ve installed the blog on a directory of my site. webee.ro/webeeblog. i’ve moved it on the homepage so… this got me into other trouble:

- i’ve had quite a lot of the pages (113!) into the hell of url not found, so i’ve installed another plugin: dean’s permalink migration.

2. offsite:
- i’ve submitted the site to this list of blogs’ directories.
it’s important to say that some of them ask for a reciprocal link. and while this is not mandatory… it still has impact on your traffic. i’ve discovered that when i misplaced their links for a week. that week i’ve had dramatic drop on natural traffic.

- i’ve created a technorati profile, i wrote some techonrati wtf’s. and received increase in technorati ranking each time someone added me as their favorite. i haven’t done though the linktrain as i want to keep my blog tidy. but… maybe… that would be good for you

- i’ve submitted to mybloglog and selected some friends and communities. i think this should be studied more because this might bring some good quality traffic.

- i’ve tried and used digg and reddit. but i’ve had an experience close to that of vanessa’s. anyway, i have the “share this” plugin… but i don’t really know how much results it drives.

- i’ve gained some good quality links from friends, and from other good designers i found with this post on 9rules.com (9 rules is a designer targeted “portal”. if you’re not a designer, then you should find a proffesional related portal or social site).

- i tried to make friends with other designers, so i periodically share my experiences with robcubbon, and ask for information, advice and feedback from davidairey, milienzo, and connorwilson. (BTW: i’m still looking to find related resigners to link to and exchange experiences!)

- i try to keep my incoming links with the following anchor text: “webee design blog” as these are the keywords i’m trying to be performant

i think this is it mostly… if you have some questions or feedback please submit a comment!

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comment “boost your PageRank from 0 to 4 in 2 months”

a list apart, one of the most popular webdesign portals and, frankly, a place for real webdesigners has unleashed for sometime now their latest project:
first annual a listapart survey, aimed to increase knowledge of webdesign and webdesigners.

it covers questions related to:
- demographic data (geographical, age, gender of webdesigners, etc)
- career data (career status, profession, job expectations, etc)
- financial and “benefits” related data (salaries, benefits, holidays, etc)

and now… here’s one for you: what are your predictions? what will the results say in your opinion? is this survey going to reveal to us more and new information about webdesigners?

PS: in return for the comment, i’ll link back to you in a post presenting a conclusion to all the comments posted… so… don’t hesitate to comment.

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comment “challenge: what are the results of the alistapart survey”

a cool post from robcubbon got me thinking:

- where do we find design resources and inspiration?
- where (with whom?) do we exchange our knowledge?

here are my sources for design inspiration sources:
- creativebits - tools, reviews and tips for graphic designers
- ideasonideas - a site for communication designers and brand strategists
- Connor Wilson - a blogging designer helping blogging designers
- robcubbon - a freelance designer with tips for freelace designers
- creative design - david gave me a few tips for getting things done with my blog
- typophile - news and discussions about types used in graphic design

later update:
- see this list of priceless design resources from asgeir hoem

what are your design sources? what are your sites on graphic design that you visit frequently?
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comment “where do you find design inspiration”

there’s a new top ten brands in the world! and… guess what?!? google’s leading!
here’s the….

The 10 most powerful global brands of 2007 plus value

but! before that, here’s some questions for you:

1. how come microsoft’s gone so low?!
2. what do you think about the fact that in the top ten of the most valuable brands, on the 6th position we have a cigarette company?
3. how come that 33% of the top is occupied by it related companies?!

see all the top ten below:
1. Google - $66.4bn

2. General Electric - $61.9bn

3. Microsoft - $55bn

4. Coca-Cola - $44.1bn

5. China Mobile - $41.2bn

6. Marlboro - $39.2bn

7. Wal-Mart - $36.9bn

8. Citi - $33.7bn

9. IBM - $33.6bn

10. Toyota - $33.4bn

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comment “10 most powerful global brands of 2007″

google gives us a new lesson on social responsibility. and remembers that today we celebrate 46 years since yuri gagarin became the first man in space.
(and not the first man on the moon as i first wrote, in my hurry. thanks ben for the correction).

and… as usual, google does it with stile!

we have a new customized google logo to the google logo collection:

here’s some more thematic google logos. the ones i love the most: launched on september 23, 2004 (birthday of ray charles).

launched on january 4, 2006 (louis braille’s birthday)

launched on December 17, 2003 (100th Anniversary of Flight)

launched on march 14, 2003 (einstein’s birthday)

and here’s the complete google logo collection.

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comment “new google logo to collection”

it all started some days ago when i launched an interesting poll regarding what kind of buzeezzz are my readers interested in.

i was wondering if you were interested in:
- photoshop related posts
or..
- indesign related posts.

and the winner is….

and here’s the statistics:
1. poll released on 13th of march. promoted through post, reminder post and widget in sidebar
2. since then, i’ve had 824 visits.
3. i’ve got a 1.3% vote per visits ratio (not satisfactory but… good enough for a first poll in the first month of the blog).

my conclusions and posting plan:
1. i will keep an equilibrium regarding photoshop vs indesign related posts
2. doing this i plan to:
- focus the photoshop related posts on some entertaining themes (e.g. top 10 reasons for which i hate photoshop).
- focus the indesign related posts on more technical themes (e.g. tip of the day series).

and this is why:
1. photoshop is becoming a common tool: more and more people uses photoshop currently. it’s not that “new stuff” anymore. people learn it’s functions in order to learn how they can play jokes on each other (eg. change your body shapes).

don’t get me wrong. this doesn’t mean that designers don’t use it. i just think it’s becoming more… accessible to day-to-day learning users.

2. phtotoshop is going online: as photoshop is preparing for google supremacy it will be more and more accessible as “how to kind of resource”

3. indesign is the new heap: any designer interested in printing layouts (from an indesign brochure to a magazine) will learn to use this new tool.
and the confirmation that it’s more reliable than quark is the increasing number of, designers that give up on using quark for indesign.

these are the users that are interested in “tip of the day” or “shortcut” kind of resource.

but… look at me… i can’t stop in sharing my thoughts.
what do you think? what should a designer wanting to help other designers write about?

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comment “photoshop vs indesign: what do designers whant to learn”

as some of you already know… i’m commited to write you about tips and tricks when using print design tools as photoshop or indesign.

i’m not though sure whether your interested in photoshop related articles or in indesign related articles … so i really need your help in what to focus on.

please let me know voting this poll
[poll=1]