Design collector

Flash MP3 Player

yugu — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I found in my PC a very beautiful and easy to configurate.

How to configurate:

[1] You have 6 files in the archive

- The folder called mp3 files is the folder where you put your mp3 files to embed in player

- Is an XML document and here you write the artist and title of your mp3, open it (right click -> Open with and select your editor, I use Notepad

Save it and use this code to embed your Flash player in a Page ( we talk about localhost because if you want to be online you need to upload the files on your server. I hope you have a server because the sites who give

free hosting don’t let you yto uploade mp3, mp3, wav, wma, etc!)

width=”280″ height=”280″ wmode=”transparent”>

Note: This player accept only mp3 files!

Create a simple MENU in CSS

yugu — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:25:00 +0000

Today we create a simple MENU in CSS.

[1] Let’s to create the CSS:

Note:

text-decoration: none; I put this expresion to remove the line under the link!

[2] Now we need to create the HTML code:

Create a simple Menu in CSS

/* Here is the CSS code */

Create a simple Menu in CSS

HOME

SERVICES

CONTACT

The entire code:

Create a simple Menu in CSS

HOME

SERVICES

CONTACT

We are done, Now you have created a simple menu using css

( Orginally Posted In Piticstyle.com)

Halloween Icons ( PNG format )

yugu — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:15:00 +0000

I thank Pitic for giving these icons

7 Habits of a Highly Successful In-house Web Designer

yugu — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:19:00 +0000

Scott Gledhill of StandardZilla has an interesting article, posted a few days ago, detailing a few tips for becoming a successful in-house web designer. I found it quite interesting. Here is his list with my own advice and experiences.

Love what you do
I agree 100% with this point. It is the most important aspect of working within an in-house design team. There will be days were politics and even corporate policies will make for a stressful work environment. Add to that plenty of menial design work that is not creative, not fun, and tedious. If you do not love what you are doing, it can and most likely will affect your work, your performance, and ultimately your job.

I’ve found that the best way to keep motivated and creative during the work day is to be aware of what projects are coming down the pipeline and express a interest in those that you think you can contribute to or would be a challenge to work on. Being proactive and looking at ways to better improve a customer’s experience on your company’s site always proves to re-energize the creative juices.

Never stop learning
Again, Scott makes an excellent point. Often in corporate environments there will invariably be downtime. Take advantage of these slower periods to read, get caught up on trends and new technologies. Stagnation, both creatively and knowledge wise, isn’t good for the career.

Specialize
This is one point where Scott and I disagree slightly. I realize each organization is unique, having it’s own corporate policies and internal culture. I’ve worked in a few places that varied in size, business environments, and base social structure, but within each, the more you knew the better off your position was.

I may be partially biased due to my experience of working for dot-coms that did not fair well in the market crash a few years ago — having survived several rounds of layoffs due to what I’m sure was my work ethic and ability to perform multiple jobs well, whether it be IA, HTML coding, or print design. Granted, the work environment for many in-house designers has stabilized over time, layoffs will always be present. Just ask any ex- or current AOL employee that past couple of years.

I believe that the days of the jack-of-all-trades “web master” are well past us, but I also believe that you have to have a good grasp of multiple areas of web design and development. Specialization can pigeon hole you in terms of escalating your career within your company. There are not many opportunities for in-house designers to move up within an organization if you refuse to broaden your knowledge base.

Get a killer portfolio
Depending on your company and the industry within which it resides, portfolios vary drastically. Remember that in-house projects for Human Resources campaigns or intranet work of high quality make for great portfolio pieces. Keep logo comps. Keep screenshots. Not everything in your portfolio needs to be public facing.

Network like crazy
Networking serves a few purposes of the in-house designer in addition to Scott’s points. First, it lets others in your company know you exist. This sounds silly, but it’s actually quite important to be seen and known. Second, networking provides you with a list of contacts should you need to find another job or are looking to branch out and move up in positions. My last two jobs have all been facilitated by good people that I had work with in past companies.

Manage your time
Time management is hard for me. I personally tend to try and take on more work than I should, but always seem to forget to leave a buffer for those last minute fire drills that always seem to pop up right as you are knee deep in comping a product flow that is due at the end of the day. Things pop up all the time in an in-house environment. Setting expectations to others within the company in terms of delivery times and schedules will help you manage your time more efficiently.

Build your reputation
Absolutely, 100% agree with Scott. Being the go-to designer on your team not only brings challenges to keep the job fresh, it also leaves a lasting impression in the eyes of those that run the business. And having that reputation as a hard working, creative designer only adds fuel to the resume if ever you want to move up within your organization.

15 Questions to Discover Your Life Purpose

yugu — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Thomas Hawk

I believe that we were all sent here for a reason and that we all have significance in the world. I genuinely feel that we are all blessed with unique gifts. The expression of our gifts contributes to a cause greater than ourselves.

First, a personal story

Last year, I was running at full speed; chasing after my dream of money and ‘success’. However, I had forgotten why I was running. Luckily, I met Jim (not his real name). Jim had achieved all the financial goals I was reaching for. He had financial independence, several successful businesses, homes in multiple countries, and the luxury to afford the finest things money could buy. Through hard work, persistence and sheer action; he had made it! But, Jim was not happy. He did not have the free time to enjoy his wealth. He wanted a family. He wanted peace. He wanted to live his life… but he was not able to. He had too many responsibilities, too much to lose, and too many things to protect. He had spent years building his castle, and now that it is complete, he is spending his time keeping it from eroding.

Getting to know Jim was a life altering and eye opening experience. His words snapped me out of my state of ‘unconsciousness’. It became clear to me that, “I did not want to spend the next 10 years chasing after money, only to find that I’ll be back at the same place I am at today; emotionally, mentally, and spiritually”. My ‘chase’ came to a screeching halt, everything was put on hold, and I spent the next two months re-evaluating my life and purpose.

These questions were running through my mind:

What am I chasing after? Why am I chasing it? What is my purpose? Why was I put here?

While reading “E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work“, I found myself in tears during the chapter on finding purpose. In that chapter, Michael Gerber asks the readers to do a visualization exercise. Through his guidance, he instructs you to vividly picture the day of your funeral. What do you want your eulogy to consist of? What would your lifetime achievements be? What would matter the most at the end of your life? Is it what you are doing right NOW?

I started writing. It began by listing all the things that are most important to me. I wrote down all the things I wanted to do. I re-visited my personal mission statement. I decided that whatever venture I commit to must align with my personal mission, my values and my goals. For every new opportunity that comes along, I would ask myself how it aligns with my goals. Regardless of how much money I could acquire, if the venture did not align with where I wanted to be, then I would not pursue it. Here is my personal mission statement:

* “To Empower, motivate and inspire people to living happier and more fulfilled lives“.

Here are some of my values and goals:

* What matters most is my connection with myself, being present and feeling blissful.
* What I value most is having meaningful relationships with people. Being able to connect with people on deep levels.
* I plan to be financially independent, and have control of my time and location. I plan to work only on projects and causes that I connect with. I plan to acquire my finances without violating my values, goals and personal mission.
* I plan to travel and live in different parts of the world. Experiencing different cultures, documenting them in photographs and sharing them with others.
* I will buy my mom a house in Vancouver with a ravine in the backyard. That’s a dream of hers and I’d like to fulfill it.
* Having a family is important to me. I desire a deep, loving relationship with my spouse.
* To live everyday fully as if it was my last.

15 Questions to Discover Your Life Purpose

The following are a list of questions that can assist you in discovering your purpose. They are meant as a guide to help you get into a frame of mind that will be conducive to defining your personal mission.

Simple Instructions:

* Take out a few sheets of loose paper and a pen.
* Find a place where you will not be interrupted. Turn off your cell phone.
* Write the answers to each question down. Write the first thing that pops into your head. Write without editing. Use point form. It’s important to write out your answers rather than just thinking about them.
* Write quickly. Give yourself less than 60 seconds a question. Preferably less than 30 seconds.
* Be honest. Nobody will read it. It’s important to write without editing.
* Enjoy the moment and smile as you write.

15 Questions:

1. What makes you smile? (Activities, people, events, hobbies, projects, etc.)

2. What are your favorite things to do in the past? What about now?

3. What activities make you lose track of time?

4. What makes you feel great about yourself?

5. Who inspires you most? (Anyone you know or do not know. Family, friends, authors, artists, leaders, etc.) Which qualities inspire you, in each person?

6. What are you naturally good at? (Skills, abilities, gifts etc.)

7. What do people typically ask you for help in?

8. If you had to teach something, what would you teach?

9. What would you regret not fully doing, being or having in your life?

10. You are now 90 years old, sitting on a rocking chair outside your porch; you can feel the spring breeze gently brushing against your face. You are blissful and happy, and are pleased with the wonderful life you’ve been blessed with. Looking back at your life and all that you’ve achieved and acquired, all the relationships you’ve developed; what matters to you most? List them out.

11. What are your deepest values?
Select 3 to 6 (See list of words to help you | list in pdf) and prioritize the words in order of importance to you.

12. What were some challenges, difficulties and hardships you’ve overcome or are in the process of overcoming? How did you do it?

13. What causes do you strongly believe in? Connect with?

14. If you could get a message across to a large group of people. Who would those people be? What would your message be?

15. Given your talents, passions and values. How could you use these resources to serve, to help, to contribute? ( to people, beings, causes, organization, environment, planet, etc.)

Putting it all together: Creating Your Personal Mission Statement

“Writing or reviewing a mission statement changes you because it forces you to think through your priorities deeply, carefully, and to align your behaviour with your beliefs”

– Stephen Covey, ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’

A personal mission consists of 3 parts:

* What do I want to do?
* Who do I want to help?
* What is the result? What value will I create?

Steps to Creating Your Personal Mission Statement:

1. Do the exercise with the 15 questions above as quickly as you can.

2. List out actions words you connect with.

a. Example: educate, accomplish, empower, encourage, improve, help, give, guide, inspire, integrate, master, motivate, nurture, organize, produce, promote, travel, spread, share, satisfy, understand, teach, write, etc.

3. Based on your answers to the 15 questions. List everything and everyone that you believe you can help.

a. Example: People, creatures, organizations, causes, groups, environment, etc.

4. Identify your end goal. How will the ‘who’ from your above answer benefit from what you ‘do’?

5. Combine steps 2-4 into a sentence, or 2-3 sentences.

What is your purpose? What is your mission? We’d love to hear about your goals and aspirations. Please share with a comment

25 Bad Habits of Graphic Designers

yugu — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:01:00 +0000

1. Taking Constructive Criticism Personally
2. Not Knowing Paula Scher, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand and Friends
3. Not Staying up on Current Events and Design News
4. Not Owning the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook
5. Charging too Little for Design Projects
6. Not Using Contracts to Cover Your Butt
7. Not Setting Deadlines for Projects
8. Doing Spec Based Work (If you like it you can pay)
9. Not Asking for a Down Payment before Starting a Project
10. Using Poorly Designed Fonts from Free Font Sites
11. Using Display Fonts as Text Fonts
12. Using the Comic Sans Font
13. Using too Many Different Fonts in One Design
14. Forgetting White Space is your Friend
15. Not Sketching Before Designing
16. Not Using Rulers on Screen
17. Relying Totally on the Computer, Especially for Kerning
18. Using Photoshop Filters After Your First 6 Months
19. Using Low Resolution Web Images for Print
20. Not Designing Logos in Vector Format
21. Making Logos Unable to Reproduce Well Small
22. Forgetting to Learn Keyboard Shortcuts
23. Not Saving Frequently
24. Not Backing up Files on an External Hard Drive
25. Not Getting Enough Sleep! Stop Drinking so much Red Bull!

4 Steps To Effective Web Design Pricing

yugu — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 10:45:00 +0000

Perhaps one of the hardest skills to learn when freelancing in web design is how to fairly and effectively price your services. A project quote can either sell a client, or turn them away. Here are some guidelines on how to develop a web design pricing guide. A lot of people have different methods for coming up with their prices, but this is just to get you started. This guide only deals with charging per project. There are other ways of charging clients, but per project is the easiest and perhaps the most widespread method of pricing.

1. Determining Your Hourly Wage

This is by far the most important part of developing a pricing guide. You will always start with your hourly wage, so it’s critical to get it right from the start. It’s pretty simple to come up with your hourly wage. The formula looks a little something like this.

(Expenses + Salary) ÷ Hours Worked Per Year = Hourly Wage

Using this formula, if you wanted to make $60,000 a year, and spent $10,000 a year on say, hosting, stock photography / videos, fonts, etc., and you worked a normal 40 hour work week (2,000 hours a year), then your hourly wage would be (10,000 + 60,000) ÷ 2,000 = $35/hr. This is what you’ll be using in our pricing guide to determine how much you’ll charge per project.

2. Develop Base Prices For Different Project Types

Now that you have figured out your hourly wage, it’s time to incorporate that into some pricing. I’d recommend setting base values for all the different types of projects you’ll be dealing with. Say you’re a basic web designer, and you offer both design and coding. You would make a list of all the basic services you offer. Your list might look something like this:

Logo Design

Website Design (design only in .psd format)

Website Design (design + coding into xHTML+CSS, less than 7 pages)

Forum Skinning (design only in .psd format)

Blog Design (design + coding into WordPress theme)

You now have your basic services listed, now it’s time to create a base project for each project. We’ll be using another handy dandy formula, this time incorporating your hourly wage, time it will take for you to complete the project, and a complexity variable. This will be used depending on the project type, and how hard or complex it is.

I use complexity levels of 1-5 for my pricing guide, but this is something you’ll have to determine. I really like logo design, and it’s easy for me, so I assign it a 1. Blog design is the hardest for me, so I assign that a 5. The rest fall somewhere in between. You’ll take the complexity level as a decimal + 1. So logo design would be .1 + 1 = 1.1. Here’s the formula:

(Hourly Wage x Estimated Time To Complete) x Complexity Level = Base Price

As an example, we’ll take a website design with coding. I assign web design + coding a complexity of 3. So it adds up to: (35 x 15 hours) x 1.3 = $682.5. This would be an odd number to quote someone, so I would round the base price down to $650, but you can round up as well.

3. Develop Prices For Any Additional Requirements

You know how your base pricing guide down. That will suffice for some (maybe most, depending on your clientèle) of your projects, but you’ll get a lot of clients wanting something special added to their site. This could be everything from a flash presentation on their homepage, to a simple login/user system.

It’s the same process for this step to determine prices for additional elements added to the project. Most additional elements will be code based, that is a script, or a web app. Again, make a list of all the additional elements you can think off, and go through the formula again deciding how much you will charge for them. Things like:

Online Calendar App

User login system

Email contact form

Flash Presentation

Shopping Cart

Additional Pages

For additional requirements I assign them all a complexity level of 3, and plug them into the formula from step 2. For additional pages, I charge a flat $50 fee per page the client wants past 7.

4. Develop Prices For Outsourced Work

In the first three steps, you have developed a pricing guide that will be suitable for most of your work. However there comes a time in every freelancer career when you will have to outsource some work. Maybe the client wants a custom illustration, or a big web application developed. You could try and tackle it if you wanted, but then you run into biting off more than you can chew. Nothing is more embarrassing and detrimental to your designer-client relationships than telling a client you can code “the next big thing” for them, and half way through having to tell them you can’t do it. Know your limits, and charge accordingly. Pricing outsourced work is extremely simple:

(Quote From Contractor x 1.10) = Price

You are simply taking the quote from whoever you are outsourcing the work to, and adding 10% to it.

These steps should give you a great start in developing your own freelance pricing guide. You can change pretty much everything in this to work for your needs. These formulas are very simple, and very flexible. One of the advantages, besides the obvious, of having a pre-determined pricing guide is that you can change it on the fly. Say you’re designing for a non-profit, just take the normal price x .5 to give them a 50% discount. I hope this article helped you if you were having trouble developing a pricing plan, or just had no clue where to begin. To those who already have pricing down, how do you do it? Do you have a set pricing guide, or just come up with a number on the fly for each project? I’m interested in hearing your point of view.

10 Absolute "No’s!" for Freelancers

yugu — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 08:21:00 +0000

When I first started freelancing as a college student, I was eager to do any website and would say “Yes” to anything, regardless of my skill set or the time involved. It was just nice to know that someone needed me for a skilled task. Unfortunately, I quickly found myself working all the time, eating Ramen noodles, and not getting anywhere in terms of paying off my wonderful college debt. To make things worse, these people were also giving my contact info out to other such people (you know, the lady who has been thinking about selling dog sweaters online and has a $100 budget for an e-commerce site, 1000 brochures, and a guranteed #1 Google search result for the “dog”, “sweater”, and “love”).

Anyways, now four years later, my world (AND financial success) now requires ample use of the answer “No.” And here are ten questions I nearly always answer “No” to:

1) Can you show me a mock-up to help us choose a designer/developer? No.
I fell for this once when I was young and naive. I made no money and wasted lots of time. Don’t do unpaid work for the chance to be paid — this wouldn’t fly in any other industry, so why web design? The best case scenario (though rare) is that you get a job with a client who knows that you’ll work for free when necessary. The worst case scenario is that they don’t pay you, and still use your stuff, knowing you don’t have the legal resources to do anything about it. Most likely though, you’ll just waste time.

2) Can you give us a discount rate? No.
There are ALOT of companies out there that do not see web design as a service worth more than $20 an hour. These should never be your clients. In my early post-college years, I used to value “getting the job” so highly, I would take on an inordinate amount of work for the pay. Let me tell you that it’s not worth it. Ever. Remember, you may be doing this company a favor, but on the flip side, you’re hurting your own future, and your family’s. Nowadays, I give my hourly rate immediately, and it weeds out many potential clients. It’s simple math really — if doubling your rate loses half your client work, then you’re still making as much in half the time. If you do excellent work, get paid for it – there will always be comparable “firms” charging double what you are.

3) Will you register and host my site? No.
Sure it seems like a good idea — free recurring revenue right? Well, maybe… if you can first get them to pay, and then if you can justify making $10 a month for the endless phone support you’ll have to give at all hours of the night. You see, once the client thinks that you are responsible for their email and website functionality, you WILL get called all the time when their email shows the slightest wavering or their website 404′s for any reason on their home computer. Believe it or not, I’ve even known someone who had a client call about his cell phone functionality just because my friend hosted his site. Don’t do it…it’s not worth it. Give them a registrar and hosting company and let them sign up themselves.

4) Can you copy this site? No.
Now you may think that I answer “No” strictly from a moral standpoint, and although that is true, there are other equally important reasons. First, if they’re copying a site, they have shady ethics themselves and the chances of you getting paid on time and in the full amount are unlikely. Second, doing this type of work reduces you to a monkey, and although some of your work may be like this to pay the bills, why purposely pursue it? Third, if it’s a true copy, the only benefit you may receive is payment – you really won’t get to use it for a portfolio or example work, and furthermore, this type of client is one you do not want work from in the future.

5) Can I pay for my e-commerce site from my website sales? No.
I hate to be the pessimist, but when I am asked this, I want to tell them that they most likely won’t make any money so they might as well ask me to do it for free. Yes, I know there are exceptions, so sometimes I will ask them about their business, marketing, and revenue plans, which 99% of them don’t have. They just thought that selling T-Shirts would a novel idea for he internet. I usually go into a spiel about having to support me and my family, and I can’t do it with speculative work — I then recommend Yahoo! Shopping or CafePress, and 9 times out of 10, they never get their site up anyways.

6) I have a great idea. Do you want to…? No.
Not much different from #5, but could be a much larger time waster if you buy in. Again, not trying to be a jerk, but if the person adds little to the potential business outside of speaking an idea, then any work you proceed to do is mere charity (which you may be okay with). But to be honest, I’d rather be charitable with my family and friends and make them partners for free versus a stranger. Trust me, if some really has a great idea, they’ll make you partners AND pay you as well.

7) Do you have an IM account? No.
I might give it out if it’s to a person I can trust during an intensive project, but as a general policy, I tell clients that it’s my general policy not to. The reason here is obvious — you have a life and other clients beyond them. Many clients see you as an on-call employee, and this is bad. This is why you quit your day job…

8) Can I just pay the whole amount when it’s done? No.
I require 50% up front (unless it’s a huge job — then maybe 33%). I need that assurance that they have “bought in” on this project, and that I can plan on the income, pay bills, and eat. People who want to pay at the end are much more likely to back out after you’ve done tons of work.

9) Is there any way you could get this done tonight or this weekend? No.
Once they know that you helped them out one time, they will expect it in the future. Now you might choose to get extra done at night (I do all the time), but don’t start making promises about getting things done at night or on the weekends/vacation. I know a lot of freelancers that charge night/weekend hours as well, so that might be a possible route to take as well. Because the reason you freelance is for the freedom, right? Right?

10) Can I be sure you won’t use this work in anything else? No.
This is a very sensitive subject because most clients misunderstand it (intellectual property is a tricky subject anyways). In my Terms and Conditions that I require all new clients to sign, I make sure they know that (1) their code has utilized code from other projects which I haven’t charged them for (2) I will probably use code from their project on other projects (3) the own the code and implementation of the project (finished website), but not the actual code pieces (login system, image uploader, etc.). I pride myself in productivity and speed, and I need to use other code all the time to accomplish this. Not to mention that I sell stock Flash which I may need old code to help build. They’re not paying you to create code that they in turn will sell, so make sure they know that it’s the implementation and not the coding that’s theirs.

There are others I’m sure. Feel free to add you own and remember, it’s the opportunities you avoid that will define your success just as much as the ones you take…

Instructions for LIFE

yugu — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 13:51:00 +0000

1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
2. Memorize your favorite poem
3. Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want
4. When you say, “I love you”, mean it.
5. When you say, “I’m sorry”,look the person in the eye.
6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
7. Believe in love at first sight.
8. Never laugh at anyone’s dreams.
9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.
10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
11. Don’t judge people by their relatives.
12. Talk slow but think quick.
13. When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask,”Why do you want to know?”.
14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
15. Call your mom.
16. Say “bless you” when you hear someone sneeze.
17. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
18. Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.
19. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
20. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
21. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
22. Marry someone you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
23. Spend some time alone.
24. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
25. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
26. Read more books and watch less TV.
27. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll get to enjoy it a second time.
28. Trust in God but lock your car.
29. A loving atmosphere in your home is so important. Do all you can to create a tranquil harmonious home.
30. In disagreements with loved ones, deal with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
31. Read between the lines.
32. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
33. Be gentle with the earth…and yourself.
34. Pray. There’s immeasurable power in it.
35. Never interrupt when you are being flattered.
36. Mind your own business.
37. Don’t trust someone who doesn’t close their eyes when you kiss them.
38. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
39. If you make a lot of money, put it to use helping others while you are living. That is wealth’s greatest satisfaction.
40. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck.
41. Learn the rules, then break some.
42. Remember that the best relationship is one where your love for each other is greater than your need for each other.
43. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
44. Remember that your character is your destiny.
45. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.