First iPhone App graphic set from WSM
I recently tackled an interesting project. I say interesting because it wasn’t something I had done before! Caleb over at Many-App-Olis asked me if I’d do a logo for him and some images for the iPhone application he was working on. I’m always up to the challenge so I said, “Heck yeah!” This was his first iPhone app as well. The project evolved and I did logos for his website, the website itself, a logo for the individual app, landing page and the necessary icons for the iTunes App store. It took on a life of its own, but it was definitely fun!
The app officially launched today and I got to play with it for the first time. What an addicting game! And of course its always fun to see your work in action. His game is called Guess and Win in 2010. This is a number guessing game, and very addicting. Each time you guess the number right on the first try you move up to the next level. You can post your high scores to a leader board and also post them to your Facebook or Twitter accounts. But the fun doesn’t end there. The high score at the end of 2010 wins actual money! Cold hard cash. The prize starts out at $100 and could potentially reach $20,000 depending on the amount of apps purchased.
The app is only .99, not bad considering you have the chance to win much much more! But watch out, your Web Savvy AppMama plans on dominating the leader boards. Check it out and see if you can keep up! Find out more about the Guess and Win 2010 game here.
Apple’s Aperture 3
If you like Photography or graphic editing and use a Mac computer (like me) you may have heard of Apple’s program called Aperture. This program is based on iPhoto that is included on all newer Apple computers. My husband and I both enjoy photography and have been exploring more into the post production editing of the photos we take. This led us to try out Aperture.
Aperture is a nice program and highly revered in the photography world. It makes editing easy and is especially helpful if you enjoy editing RAW photo formats. The photo editing options are endless and too many for me to get into. Taking a simple self photo with my photo booth on my iMac I played around with some of the presets and got a feel for how this would work for amateur person jumping in. Having used Photoshop and Pixelmator the Aperture layout is very different, as well as the workflow. You shouldn’t let this detour you though, it is very easy to navigate. I did have some confusion on how to actually save a project once I was done with my edits, I did manage to discover the export feature which is not very straight forward. I have to say that I find this a great tool for photo editing and does a lot, but I would not say it is a standalone program. I think you’d still want another heftier program like Photoshop to really polish your work.
My husband and I both discovered one major flaw, freezing. We’ve been testing this software on 21.5″ iMac computers that are pretty new (new in Feb 2010). We found that Aperture will spontaneously freeze during a workflow and require a system reboot to allow the computer to work again. I’m a huge Mac fan and have NEVER had any issues with freezing, even when running Parallels and dual operating systems with a gazillion programs. This is my third Mac computer and I can attest to the reliability of the system. So these sudden freezes in Aperture are highly frustrating. We’d expect this from a Microsoft product, not an Apple product. Tsk tsk. A quick search on Google confirms that this is not a issue that only we are having.
So overall, this program has the potential for greatness, but falls short on reliability. We’ll try it again once Apple takes care of the stability issues. Want to try it out for yourself? Check out the 30 day trial at Apple.
Don’t want to take my word for it? Check out this PCWorld review that addresses the Aperture freezing issues.
Adobe’s Kuler Color Picker
I’ve blogged before about inspiration and colors when I talked about Colour Lovers. Web Savvy Mama LOVES colors! I’m back to talk about another online gem I found that my fellow color loving mamas will love!
Adobe has an online color picker called Kuler. When I first saw it I though, “Oh, another color picker. What’s the bog deal?” Then I started playing around with it! The color picker part is like most you find online, the feature I liked the most was the “create from image” option. I popped a picture of my daughter in and ta-da! Color palette! It lets you select a mood which will change the colors it grabs from the picture. How cool is that?!
As someone who takes inspiration for web design from every day objects I can see this handy little site getting a lot of use. Have a favorite printed skirt? Snap a picture and ta-da, instant color palette! Go play and let me know what you think!
Intuos4 Wacom tablet, the designer’s BFF
I had tried tablets before, even Wacom tablets. Having a digital drawing tablets were a requirement when I went to college for web design. Unfortunately I had never felt the tablet love before now. Previous tablets I tried felt awkward, were not accurate and had few options to really make me want to use them. Sensitivity had been lacking and static cling on the drawing surface made the last one wig out on me. I knew there were good tablets, but I didn’t want to spend $2000 on one! I wrote tablets off and learned to perfect my craft via mouse.
That is, until I saw the Intuos4 at the store. I sat there staring at it, pondering whether it would really be worth the $350 price tag. A sales lady approached me and we had a nice long chat about the features and previous issues I’ve had with tablets. I was sold. I then turned to the lady and said “Hey, that man over there in cameras is my husband. He’s looking for a new SLR. Do what you do best and get him excited about his camera purchase, then he’ll happily agree to buying me this cool new tablet.” Yes, wives are evil sometimes. Hey, it worked and us girls have got to work together. He did get a chuckle out of the scheming.
So I get the tablet home and giddily rip it out of the box. First, I have to comment on the size. I purchased the medium one and the drawing space is perfect! I was afraid that it would be too small to get a good feel for it or to feel natural, but its definitely adequate. By the way, the Wacom Intuos4 comes in several sizes ranging from small to extra large, so there is a size (and price) for everyone. Next I notice the pen holder, when you open it up it has 11 extra tips for the pen. I haven’t had a chance to play with those but I presume they give a different feel when drawing. The tablet itself has programmable hot keys that you can set in accordance with your drawing program. I use Photoshop and Pixelmator and found that these come in handy. Not only are there buttons but also a LED display right next to them to tell you what they do! You can also set your hot key buttons based on program, so if you use specific shortcuts in one program and not another it will recognize that.
Actual use of the tablet is awesome! It feels like you are writing on paper, just the right amount of feedback and grip along with a smooth (static-free) surface. The sensitivity is nice as well and allows you to press harder for a thicker line as if you were really painting or drawing. I have to say, that after only 2 months of use I really am enjoying this tablet and it has made my drawing time significantly shorter.
All in all, this is a quality tablet and if, like me, you were afraid to try them again (or for the first time) I think this would be a good no-regrets digital tablet.
Pixelmator Review
I’ve long been a fan of Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro (the old non-screwed up version, lol) on my PC computers. Two years ago I found the Mac love and made the switch. Unfortunately my PC software was not compatible and I began a search for software that was tailored to the Mac work environment. Of course Photoshop is Mac friendly, but I wanted to see what else was available. This led me to Pixelmator.
Pixelmator is a layer based graphic editor for Macs. I was skeptical at first and I downloaded the demo on 2 different occasions to see how I’d like it and instead left it untouched each time. I was intimidated by the prospect of learning a new setup. Recently I made the leap and purchased the program, knowing that if I just did it I’d be forced to play with it more. Boy am I glad I did! The layout is very similar to Photoshop, so if you can use Photoshop you can use Pixelmator… but I must say I find Pixelmator’s interface more eye appealing.
| First off, being made for a Mac instead of being just Mac friendly, Pixelmator’s interface is pretty slick. I like being able to drag the windows anywhere on my screen without being restricted in any way. The basic brushes and filters that come with are a great start right out of the box, I haven’t had to go search for more yet as the ones that come with have accomplished all my tasks so far. There are just a ton of them! This program is also fast! I found Photoshop a bit slow, but Pixelmator just loads, no waiting!
Pixelmator does have a learning curve and if you are not used to Photoshop or working with a graphics program then I highly recommend trying out a few of the tutorials! I tried these tutorials myself and had a lot of fun creating some desktop wallpapers. Pixelmator has a whole learning section right on the website to help walk you through and get you used to working in this environment. |
Format: Download Developer: Pixelmator System Requirements: Intel or PowerPC, Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later, Core Image supported graphics card Processor Compatibility: Intel or Power PC Price: $59.00 single user |
I’m making these wallpapers available for download, I created these in Pixelmator using the provided tutorials. Try one for yourself! To download Desktop Wallpapers click on the image to open large image and then right click image and select save from the menu.
Web Review: Cultures For Health
Cultures for Health: Where Healthy Food Starts We offer a wide selection of starter cultures for yogurt, sourdough, kombucha, kefir, etc. as well as a range of products to support a whole foods lifestyle. Widest selection available online. One stop shopping for your culturing and fermentation needs!
Julie contacted me requesting a web review of her site. This website owner told me she also has plans to do some work on her site coming up and would love the feedback.
How this works: I will review this website on both technical and artistic properties and give each a “pear rating”. I will also include why the site got the grade it did and what things could be done to improve the site.
See how her site did after the jump Read More…