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30 second Speech by Bryan Dyson (CEO of Coca Cola)

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:26:27 +0000

VERY SHORT, MOST EFFECTIVE AND HOW TRUE…

30 second Speech by Bryan Dyson (CEO of Coca Cola)

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the
air. You name them – Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you’re
keeping all of these in the Air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will
bounce back.

But the other four Balls – Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of
glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked,
nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must
understand that and strive for it.”

WORK EFFICIENTLY DURING OFFICE HOURS AND LEAVE ON TIME. GIVE THE REQUIRED
TIME TO YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS & HAVE PROPER REST.

Mastering Photoshop With Paths

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:37:35 +0000

Anomalously residing within the pixel-gridded world of Photoshop are a series of tools waiting to break out of the canvas’ inherent squareness. Mastering these tools opens the stage for a higher level of flexibility, full of clean lines and non-destructive editing. Presented here is a guide to help you build proficiency, increase productivity and demystify the elusive world of Paths.

Creation

Pen Tool

The Pen tool (P) – simple to use but difficult to master. It provides a precise method for creating paths, but requires an experienced hand to plot naturally flown curves. The power unlocked by mastering this tool is well worth the time needed to do so. While no amount of instruction can make you a Bezier master, below are some tips to keep in mind as you practice.

Always use as few points as

10 Useful WordPress Hook Hacks

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:37:23 +0000

Hooks are very useful in WordPress. They allow you to “hook” a custom function to an existing function, which allows you to modify WordPress’ functionality without editing core files. In this article, we have compiled 10 extremely useful ready-to-use WordPress hooks, along with examples and coding explanations.

What Is A Hook?

To achieve a particular effect on a WordPress blog, you have to modify how WordPress works. Some of these modifications are made to what WordPress developers call “core files,” files required by WordPress to work properly.

But modifying core files is always a bad idea. It may create a security loophole. Also, you will have lost the modification when you upgrade your WordPress installation.

Still, developers need to overwrite some of WordPress’ functionality, which is why WordPress provides the Plugin API.

Hooks are one of the main

Android GUI PSD Vector Kit

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:37:11 +0000

In this post we release Android GUI Starter Kit, a set that comes with several button elements as well as different interface options for Android GUI. This set was designed by Pavel Maček and released especially for Smashing Magazine and its readers. Android GUI PSD is based on elements of Android 1.5 GUI and was made to help open-source community with Android applications mock-ups. Most of the elements and phone illustration are made in vector path so they are easily resizable. For text Android Sans was used.

Android GUI PSD is inspired by idea of teehan+lax iPhone GUI PSD. Other elements will be released soon. The

Corporate Blog Design: Trends And Examples

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:01:58 +0000

With tens of millions of blogs online today, major corporations have started to recognize the value of a corporate blog for communicating with customers. However, corporate blogging is far different than the more traditional blogging that most of us encounter on a daily basis. Corporate blogging brings its own unique set of challenges and opportunities that must be considered and addressed by the company in order for its users to have a positive experience.

In this article we’ll examine the issues that face corporate blogs, we’ll observe some current trends, and we’ll look at a large sample of blogs from companies of various sizes in a wide variety of industries.

Purposes of Corporate Blogs

Probably the most significant reason for companies to manage a corporate blog is the communication benefits it can provide. As a higher percentage of the population uses the Internet for researching and buying products and services, companies can

6 Simple Ways For Freelancers To Increase Productivity

admin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:31:26 +0000

The best part about being a freelancer is having the freedom to set your own schedule and make your own rules. This, however, can also be the worst part. Without the normal structure of an office environment, many would-be freelancers find themselves wondering at the end of the day where all their time went. Getting the most out of your workday can be tough. So, to help, we present some simple ways that freelancers can increase their productivity.

1. Set A Schedule

Define Your Working Hours

Having set working hours creates a feeling of accountability and puts a premium on your time, making you less likely to waste it. Create a clear set workday schedule and stick to it. If you decide to start work at 8:00 each morning, then get up, take a shower, get dressed and get to work

How To Effectively Communicate With Developers

admin — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:56:11 +0000

If you have ever worked with a developer or a development team, this article will probably strike close to home. As designers, we work with dozens of developers across the globe each year. Some of us are fortunate enough to find a gem; a developer that just gets it. A developer that you feel is on your same wavelength in terms of what needs to be accomplished with the user interface, and what it needs to happen. Most often, however, we find developers that we generally don’t see eye to eye with.

When many people are involved in a project, it is very important to make sure that they have a common understanding of the problem and its solution. This cartoon shows how projects really work in

Unique TV Series Episodes That Inspire Creativity

admin — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:56:06 +0000

Whatever creative field you are striving to excel in – whether it be graphic design, web development, blogging, or writing of another kind – inspiration can be gleaned from any creative field, even if that field is not directly related to what you personally do. As artists striving to stand out in our own niches, it is important that we notice and appreciate ground-breaking or otherwise imaginative work done in a broad range of artistic spectrums.

In this article you’ll get inspiration from the area of creative writing in popular television series episodes from the past 40+ years, and we’ll discuss how the creativity achieved in these particular episodes can motivate all of us, as artists, to always strive to prevent our creations from being too normal and predictable.

The artists who wrote or co-wrote the TV Series episodes that we’re featuring here were accustomed to producing work in a familiar environment, in harmony

10 Simple Steps to Better Photoshop Performance

admin — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:55:57 +0000

Before getting started with Photoshop, we all should have first visited the “Edit > Preferences” menu and change the “Performance” settings to fit our personal taste and computer specifications, but this isn’t always the case – in many situations designers simply forget these aspects.

If you never changed the default performance settings in your Photoshop or you just want to double check them to improve the Photoshop performance, here are 10 important and useful points that you may want to consider.

1. Adjust The Number Of History States

Maybe you already went through that bad feeling of clicking “undo” dozens of times and realizing that Photoshop wouldn’t provide you with more previous steps, but this problem can be easily resolved by changing the History States setting in the “Edit > Preferences > Performance” menu.

Useful Web Design E-Mail Newsletters

admin — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:55:51 +0000

There are thousands of good websites out there offering web design and development tips. It’s a bit much to sift through in most cases. There must be an easier way. Enter the email newsletter. What could be better than sitting back and waiting for the newest design and development news to be delivered to your inbox? Here is a rather short list of great newsletters devoted to web development, design, and related topics.

You may be interested in the following useful posts:

45 Incredibly Useful Web Design Checklists and Questionnaires

45+ Excellent Code Snippet Resources and Repositories

Useful