Cameron Graphix

Latest projects at Cameron Graphix

2012-02-02T09:56:00.000-08:00

My two latest projects at Cameron Graphix have been very successful and I'm proud to introduce the new sites to you all. The older of the two, which still has some work to be done on it is www.PegasusPizza.net - this site was a full web site with menu - they previously had a simple one-page site with a downloadable menu. They also had a place to enter your e-mail address for a future mailing, but there wasn't any capture device on the back end, so all of the addresses were disappearing instead of forming into a usable database. The color scheme is based on their new interior design in their restaurants, their new logo and the new menus I designed for them.

My second project is www.ExceptionalMD.com and is nearly complete. I did a full website, marketing materials, logo and forms package for them and am still working on small changes nearly daily. Much of the work has been done over the phone with the client and I would work then upload the changes... he would then hit refresh in the browser. The process worked very well for me and for him as well. Exceptional Health Care is a new type of medical practice (in Oregon) and is the first in the State to be Certified by the State of Oregon as a Retainer Medical Practice. They focus on the customer / patient and for a small retainer fee, you have access to a medical Doctor whenever you need him, regardless of your insurer or whether you have insurance at all. It's a really great concept and if you have insurance or a Doctor you're unsatisfied with, you may want to give them a call: 541-746-7073. They're on Coburg Rd. in Eugene.

Using RSS Feeds to post Blog to HTML page

2011-07-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

I had a hard time nailing down a good service to use for this during the process of creating a new web page for a client. I wanted to create a basic brochure site that had an area on the home page for user-editable content and I didn't want to use Wordpress or some other service like that.

What I found is a great service called WebRSS here's the URL: http://www.webrss.com/ basically, you have the blog address, go to their site and then post one of four different technologies to the page. I tried using the PHP, iFrame and Javascript and finally ended up using that. It works really great and is highly customizeable. The feed refreshes every hour and looks great. Give it a try!

Color separations for printing.

2011-03-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday I had another "professional designer" (for questions about why the quotes are here, view my first post below) submit a file for printing. I placed the file into InDesign to set up the press sheet and viewed the Separations preview to verify that all colors were correctly called out and the file was good to print. Sadly, that's a no on this file. This happens all too often... almost daily... sometimes hourly : (

As a designer, setting up a file to print on a desktop printer or being posted to the web is really easy. It's similarly easy to set things up for printing, but it's important to keep in mind the process when doing this. When a file is created using, say, three colors that will be going on a traditional offset press, it's critical to be sure that those three colors are appropriately color-coded in the original document. This may seem like an easy thing to do, but it's regularly not done.

I think it's important to understand where a graphic design element or project will be used prior to creation. For instance, I regularly see logos that are created in Photoshop, then the customer sends me a 21K JPEG that they want placed on their 6' x 3' outdoor sign. Remember, VECTOR, VECTOR, VECTOR when it comes to logos. With today's modern vector graphics programs there isn't too much that you can't do in a vector drawing program.

So, with the project yesterday, the artwork was vector, all colors were appropriately set up, were this project to be going on our full-color press, but that isn't the case. They have specific Pantone colors they want to use and unfortunately, some colors don't match exactly in a CMYK printer versus a custom-mixed Pantone color. There's an excellent color theory article that explains these terms in more detail - here's a bit of it:

As you might suspect, there are different types of color. Now is when you can throw the color wheel out the window.

RGB Color: This is color based upon light. Your computer monitor and television use RGB. The name "RGB" stands for Red, Green, Blue, which are the 3 primaries (with green replacing yellow). By combining these 3 colors, any other color can be produced. Remember, this color method is only used with light sources; it does not apply to printing.

CMYK Color: This is the color method based upon pigments. "CMYK" stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (its what the K stands for). Using these 4 colors, most other colors can be achieved. Unfortunately, CMYK cannot reproduce the same amount of colors as RGB can, which is why yellow-greens sometimes look a bit muddy when printed.
This is the method used by printers the world over, and is also a clever way of mixing paints.

Pantone (PMS) Color: This is yet another printing color method. PMS stands for "Pantone Matching System," and is a large list of specially mixed colors made by the Pantone Corporation. Instead of using CMYK to create colors, the pigments are created individually for purity.
For example, if I wanted to use a Red-Violet color, I'd pick PMS 233M. The color would be made exclusively for my project and would always print exactly how I want.
The only drawback to using PMS colors is that they're only useful for projects with few colors. They're also expensive.

Ford, Ryan. "Color Theory: A Brief Tutorial." Color Theory: a Brief Tutorial. 2007. Web. 19 Mar. 2011. <http://colortheory.liquisoft.com/>.

Airsoft or Paintball video game?

2011-02-03T13:17:00.000-08:00

There's a big problem with today's video games in general. What are the benefits of a game system like XBox 360 or PS3? Over say a nice middle-of-the-line PC? You can use your TV instead of a monitor.... You can use an easy to use controller instead of a keyboard/mouse. You can play with a friend at the same time cooperatively or competitively. Here's the fundamental problem with today's games!

How many games are released today that actually support multiple-player activity? Not many sadly. Particularly on systems like the PS3 and XBox 360, where many of the games are made for single-player use or via multiplayer online only. Really? How many people out there like to sit down by yourself and play a game four hours on end? Not me! I do like the rare RPG game and will play those solo, but for the most part, when it comes to action games, particularly shooters, I like to play with a friend.

This brings me to the next question.... is it possible that people will not be playing these games because they don't like to see people exploding and the other people in the game swearing up a storm? How many shooters are rated E10? The answer? Two. One is Greg Hastings Paintball 2, which has some decent reviews, but as a shooter game it favors more the aspects of paintball than the military simulation shooters that are popular. I've been reading reviews all over the net and a popular comment is "Why would anyone want to play a simulation of a simulation?" Well, my comment to those people is why would anyone want to experience real war? The truth is that most of those people who are playing these games have never experienced real war, death or watched a buddy get dismembered by a string of hostile fire. Truthfully neither have I, but really, why would people come enmasse to watch and participate in such brutality for fun's sake?

I'll tell you.... it's because games like this are addicting, it's fun to hunt the most sophisticated and strategic animal out there... the human race. It's fun to see if you can do it better than the other guy. So from the point of view of myself, I wonder why you can't take a traditional shooter game and turn off the heavy violence? Why can't you turn off the swearing by the NPC / bots? Why doesn't someone make an airsoft variant - where you start the game with a small amount of in-game cash, a basic rifle or pistol and as you proceed through the game, you acquire more in-game cash and upgrade weapons, get better equipment, unlock new locations. All of the overall mechanics are still in the game, but instead of watching an opponent's head explode and see the bystanders screaming in terror, the guy simply puts his rifle up and walks off the course.

The other advantage to a game such as this is that the game companies would draw in a much younger audience. I know there are a lot of kids playing COD4 and Black Ops, but should they be? NO WAY! They want to play the game to do the hunt, but exposing young children to this level of violence is not healthy in any way, shape, or form. In addition, you're introducing them to a whole level of violent opponents that are mostly older men. I'm not sure that's safe from a parent's point of view.

Will someone over at Ubi please develop a Rainbow Six-type game with Airsoft as the basis, using current Airsoft guns, upgrades and courses? I guarantee there would be a big audience. Rate it E or E10 and see where the wide audience comes from. Perhaps market it to Christian organizations and those who would otherwise stay well-away from your types of products. This could be something fun for everyone.

Domain Registration woes

2011-01-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

I finally got the .com version of my domain name. It was purchased automatically by an auction house at the end of it's previous domain registration and I got the "bargain" price of $69. For someone accustomed to purchasing domains from GoDaddy for $12, this was a bit steep. On the other hand, premium domains go for as much as $2K and above, so in that sense, it wasn't too bad.

Once I had the new domain, it would be an easy thing to forward the new address to my site.... not so with all domain registration sites apparently. I guess I'm just used to ease and no-cost solutions. I guess it's too difficult to point the domain away from the ad-filled generic sites from these large DNS houses. Once I got over my frustration, I figured I'd go over to the old-standard GoDaddy and transfer the domain. They were running a special where the domain transfer plus an additional year of registration was a measly $8 - a no-brainer in my mind.

So.... look for www.camerongraphix.com soon on the web. It will forward to the already existing .net site, but having that additional URL will help drive traffic to the site and people are really accustomed to .com in any case.

Cameron Graphix is finally Live

2010-12-13T22:42:00.000-08:00

After about 5 months of the "Coming soon..." Flash splash page, the site is finally complete and live. Check it out and let me know if you need any web design done. I'd hate to think I gave up a year of my life+ so I could settle back into things have always been!

www.camerongraphix.net

14 months of training - Finally Over!

2010-12-13T22:40:00.000-08:00

I finally finished my program at Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Online Division. The program was really excellent and this was my final term. It's not bittersweet as many would say when moving on to a new portion of life. There was nothing really all that sweet about the following:

1) Three all-nighters - started doing homework at 7:00pm, worked all night, then went to "work" at The Ink Well, then came home, then did homework until 10-11pm, then finally went to sleep.

2) I was told when I started school that I should expect to do 10-15 hours per week in homework. When you figure that out, you're only talking about 2-3 hours a night... Personally, there were many weeks where I had 5-7 hours a night!

3) Work a 40 hour a week job, then go to school for 35-60 hours. That leaves a total of no more then 12 hours a day to spend time with family and sleep. What suffered was sleep.

4) Getting on average 5 hours of sleep a night for 14 months.

5) Never watching TV, movies or playing video games. I know, not essentials, but it is nice to relax and have fun on occasion!

6) Family vacations inevitably fell during times when I had 24 hours of homework due and of course I can't bring a desktop computer, two monitors, keyboard mouse and all peripherals needed, plus 100 miles of extension cord to the camping trip.

Well, I finally get my life back!

Barakade Fotografie

2010-12-07T23:06:00.000-08:00

This site has been a work in progress for me. It was originally created as a full-flash site. The site was designed by me to be a three-dimensional, interactive experience showing the photos of Rob, an associate of mine. The original design showcased three tabs and looked essentially the same as it does now, but when you clicked a new tab (side), the top tab would slide out of the frame to the right and move down below the bottom tab. This looked really neat, but caused a few problems from a usability standpoint... What if you wanted to go from Gallery to Contact directly? Would the top tab, then the next tab need to move? Are the tabs fully independent and allowed to move in such a way that you never have to see two tabs move prior to seeing the information you want?

I have been revising the site slowly over the last few weeks. First, the photographer revised the copy that I originally wrote. Then, he added several photos and removed a few. He also wanted to more closely integrate his social networking information with the site, so wanted me to add the "Like" button. I had the footer originally embedded in the Flash movie, but found that having it fall below the Flash movie worked much better. I still have a bit of a problem with a long loading time for the movie and would like to add some sort of a loader animation to make that wait time less excruciating.

Check out the site at www.barakadefoto.com

My web site

2010-12-03T08:28:00.000-08:00

I'm on the last week or so of my classes at AiO (Art Institute Online) and in my portfolio class, one of the projects is to create a portfolio (duh) and post it online. As a result, if you look at my site in the next week or so, you'll have something besides the Flash logo saying "coming soon..." I'm going to start work on the site tonight so stay tuned.

Here's my current URL: Cameron Graphix

Welcome to my Blog - A test for "Designers" to see if they're for real

2010-12-02T19:58:00.000-08:00

If you've found my blog, you're probably a friend or business associate, so welcome, first of all! I wanted to start this as a way to keep in touch with my clients, friends and do a general talk (and possibly rant) about all things graphic and web design.

LOGO CREATION TEST FOR "Designers" (read - those who need to do some more training before calling themselves this)

One thing that I've noticed in my long-standing graphic design experience, both in my current and in past jobs, but also as a new graphic and web design professional is that there are a lot of "designers" out there. I'm sure you noticed the little quotation marks around designers, and I'd like to identify some ways to know if who you're working with really knows what they are selling or if they're most likely a newbie that's charging too much for their rather basic work or farming you out to a design house. Here are a few questions you can ask to test them:

1) I'd like to make some printed materials for my new business. I was thinking a business card, envelope and letterhead to start. Do you have a PMS book?
Now, if they're thinking you're talking about something to do with women, this is a "designer", not a graphics professional. PMS is a shortened term for PANTONE® which is a color system for reproducing color on presses. This can also translate to fabrics and many other things. Check out www.pantone.com for more information on the Pantone matching system.

2) Ask the designer if they have any sample logos that you can view on their monitor. If they immediately open up Photoshop as their go-to design tool, this is where you should run screaming (or I would). Photoshop is an OUTSTANDING program for doing RASTER work, but should never (if possible) be used to design a company logo. The problem with Photoshop is that it uses Pixels, rather than mathematical points to make up the image.

What this translates to in layman's terms is that you have a certain amount of image information in small colored-squares that make up your logo. When you make that logo smaller, what happens in the program is that it takes a look at those pixels, decides which of them it can discard in order that the image fits into the smaller space and chucks them. If you want to make the image larger, the program again looks at the image, and invents pixels and adds them in. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't want a program looking at my logo and discarding parts of it, nor do I want a program that invents parts of my logo and adds them in. Here's an image I found which illustrates this concept a bit better:

VECTOR files on the other hand, created in such programs as Adobe Illustrator, the previous Macromedia Freehand, Corel Draw, and some others use mathematical points to identify strokes, fills and textures. Modern vector drawing programs allow nearly full freedom to create including complex textures, gradient colors, lighting effects and the like, but are fully scalable (meaning you can put this on a pen, or stretch it to fill up the side of a building or bus) with NO QUALITY LOSS.

3) Ask the designer what color-space they use for designing logos for print.

If they don't know what you're talking about, this is another one of those "designers" that you should probably stay away from. There are two primary color spaces (or spectrums) that are used widely by us designers. CMYK or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, blacK - also known as Process Colors are used by offset and digital presses. These four colors create most visible colors and are what you see in full-color postcards, magazine ads and just about any printed piece you come across. Basically, the press puts down dots in various patterns from rosettes to stochastic or FM-screened patterns which when viewed from a distance of 1-2" or more fool the eye into seeing the plethora of colors you see on the printed page. When viewed from very close or with a magnifying glass, you will see the different dots in yellow, pink or light blue, plus black. Take a close look at any of that junk mail you have on your table or desk and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Another color space that is widely used is RGB or Red Green Blue. This is the visual light spectrum and is used primarily with video display devices, monitors, cameras and the web. This spectrum is made up of approx. 16.7million colors (depending on bit-depth) and is the widest spectrum of color available. A JPEG photo file is nearly always RGB.

So, if the designer uses RGB for their print images, this is another one of those "other designers" which you'll want to walk away from politely.

I hope this is of some help and I'll try to periodically give you some tips and insight into graphics and the web here at my blog. Have a fantastic week!