Sandy’s Great Graphic Find: CoolText

Filed Under Design, Great Finds, Successful Blog, Tips | 21 Comments

Create Logos and Buttons with CoolText Graphics Generator

Great Find: CoolText

Permalink: http://cooltext.com/

Target Audience: Computer users who want to create buttons

Content: Every now and then I need a button. Sure, I have all the programs to create my own, but why spend the time when there are tools out there that can finish the job quickly.

There are a lot of button generators, but this one caught my attention because it worked so well. Recently a few people told me the ‘hire me’ on my site doesn’t look like a link, so it seemed like a good time to try out CoolText. Here’s what I created.


Hire Purple Wren



Then check out the logo designs. I’m not crazy about the terminology and would prefer banner, or something more descriptive. But it doesn’t really matter what they call them, there’s a great selection. Remember to save the image files on your computer because they don’t store them.

It took longer to write this post than to create the buttons/banners.

Joy



Here are six things I like about CoolText:

  1. You can create an account to save your designs
  2. There’s more than 1200 fonts available
  3. It’s easy to use
  4. You can edit your button until it’s just right
  5. There are several file types to choose from
  6. It’s free!

Click the screenshot to go there.

Cool Text: Logo and Graphics Generator



Let me know how you use CoolText!

See you next time!

–Sandy, Purple Wren

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Sandy’s Great Graphic Tip: Re-sizing Graphics in an Editor

Filed Under Design, Successful Blog, Tips | 1 Comment

What Happened to that Picture?

Sometimes you see photos on websites that look funny - too wide or narrow, tall or short. In other words, out of proportion. Some other terms used are scale, perspective and aspect ratio. One common way to re-size a graphic is using a WYSIWYG editor. WYSIWYG is pronounced wiz-e-wig and is short for what you see is what you get.

Hover over the corner of a graphic, click and drag. Depending on the program, it’s possible to lose perspective, so keep this little tip in mind.

Hold down the shift key while clicking and dragging. It will keep the picture looking square.

Another Option to Re-Size a Graphic

Another option is to right-click the graphic and choose format. In the window, you usually have a choice to re-size the graphic by pixel size or percentage of original. You will probably see a check box for preserve aspect ratio or uniform scale. Selecting the box means when you enter the horizontal or vertical size, the other dimension is automatically selected to keep the graphic in perspective.

Here’s a visual example of what I mean:

Re-size Graphic Sample

It’s also a good idea to re-size and edit graphics before uploading them. When you upload a large graphic and only want to display a small graphic, it can increase the file size and make the page load slowly. Let’s talk more about that another time.

Remember, a good-looking graphic makes your webpage look interesting and professional.

See you next time!

–Sandy, Purple Wren

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Sandy’s Great Graphic Tips: Selecting File Types

Filed Under Design, Successful Blog, Tips | 4 Comments

Which graphic file type is best? It depends . . .

A lot of people wonder what the difference is between file types. Here’s a quick description of three common types. To learn more, follow the links for examples and detailed explanations.

.jpg or .jpeg = Joint Photographers Experts Group

  • Superior for photographs, computer game screenshots, blends or gradients (including metallics)
  • Allows compression options (removes information to make the file smaller)
  • Can be used as an image map (single image with clickable areas)
  • Does not support transparency
  • Supports millions of colors

.gif = Graphics Interchange Format

  • Superior for simple shapes, line art, diagrams, or flat colors (think cartoons, icons, logos, buttons)
  • Supports animation
  • Supported by most browsers
  • Allows transparent backgrounds (for round or irregular shapes)
  • Can be used as an image map
  • Supports 256 colors maximum

.png = Portable Network Graphics

  • Designed to improve/replace .gif file but does not support animation
  • Supports transparency
  • Preserves sharp edges
  • Not all browsers support it but it’s gaining in popularity
  • Supports RGB or greyscale (does not support CMYK for print)

How do you know if you have the right file format?

If it’s too grainy, too fuzzy, or the file size is too large, you might want to review the descriptions above or check out Pat Kalbaugh’s GIF vs JPG page at The Sirius Web. Experiment a little - save it as a different file type and see what happens.

See you next time!

–Sandy, Purple Wren

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Sandy’s Great Graphic Tips: Why Use Graphics?

Filed Under Design, Successful Blog, Tips | 8 Comments

What Does Learning Style Have To Do With Graphics?

We each have a different learning style. The three basic styles are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (VAK). Approximately 60-70% (depending on the source) of the general population are predominantly visual learners. They need visual aids to fully grasp a concept or idea.

Graphics are a huge reason people flock to the web. Humans are generally more receptive to things we see compared to things we hear. That means a well-placed graphic on your post can make a world of difference to their experience.

The term ‘graphic’ describes visual elements like photographs, drawings, illustrations, diagrams, charts, maps, symbols, fonts, etc. Graphics can be a very effective method to express a concept. Remember the proverb, “a picture is worth a thousand words”? Sometimes you can use a graphic to express an idea that may otherwise take pages.

Graphics:

  • add color and depth
  • tell a story
  • catch the eye
  • retain reader interest
  • express a concept

What’s Your Learning Style?

What type of learning style do you have? Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic? Find out with the Learning Style Survey.

Here’s my results. The graphic says it all…

Learning Style

Stay tuned… in upcoming weeks we’ll talk more about graphics. Let me know what you think. If there are specific things you want to discuss, feel free to leave a comment and we’ll start there.

Here’s some ideas I thought of:

  • Using graphics effectively
  • Selecting graphic file types (.gif, .jpg)
  • Sizing and optimizing graphics
  • Editing image tags in html
  • Using white space
  • Cropping photos
  • File naming conventions
  • Placing images in text
  • Using a scanner to create graphics
  • Finding graphics
  • Using special effects
  • Locating books and resources
  • Using color, grayscale, or duotone

See you next time!

–Sandy, Purple Wren

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Business Rule 5: Never Underestimate the Power of a Voice on the Telephone

Filed Under Business Book, Strategy, Successful Blog, Tips | 26 Comments

What I Learned from the Black Box

Business Rules Logo

I was working for a company just outside of Boston. I was living just outside of Laguna Beach. The job was a great fit. At 13.5 hours door-to-door when the weather gods were on my side, the commute was not.

I was part of a team hell-bent on turning around a company in crisis. They had lost 10% for three years before I got there. About six months earlier, the staff had been cut from 200 people to 40. The culture was hurt. Everyone had ideas about what went wrong, but no one was sure about what to do right. The process models had fallen apart.

It’s so easy to talk about negatives in a situation like that.

Because of my circumstances, I attended two executive meetings each month via telephone — a black box on the table. I’d say hello to the group. They’d place the food of the day near the phone, and the meeting would start. They would forget I was there. I got to be the proverbial fly on the wall.

Three important things happened over that telephone.

  • Attending the meetings via telephone raised my concentration level. It was almost like eavesdropping. I was less inclined to speak. It required crossing a barrier. I had to feel strongly to add my opinion. Instead, I listened more intently, just to imagine what was happening.
  • When I did speak, I’m told, all eyes went to the forgotten box on the table–my voice got the complete attention of the room. I wasn’t freely spouting information. So when I spoke, they listened.
  • Like me at the other end, they had to “work” to hear the message. They had to rely on interpretting data through only one of their senses and so, it was information they had earned.

It was the absence of the visual that made our words so powerful. We actually heard each other better and valued each other’s words more.

The difference was that we had to listen.

The common wisdom is that we lose more when we lose the visual. In this case we gained. Learning to listen wasn’t the only lesson that I learned that day.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you think Liz can help with your PRM, check out the Perfect Virtual Manager on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

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