CreativeTechs Tips

As we head into America's July 4th holiday weekend, I was looking for something fun to lighten things up. Ah, yes. This should do nicely. Here is a five minute music video with the inimitatable Deke McClelland singing (rapping?) out 101 Photoshop Tips in just over five minutes.

We transcribed all 101 tips, so do check out the full list. Even the most seasoned Photoshop expert should discover plenty of gems. My own list included tips 14, 62, 80, 81, 85 and 98.

101 Photoshop Tips Transcribed:

We've transcribed all 101 tips here. To fit our Mac-centric audience a little better, we've switched everything around to the default Mac keyboard commands.

1. Want to copy a Layer? Jump it: Command-J
2. You a Windows user? Press Control instead of Command.
3. For a new Layer: Command-Shift-N
4. To Delete a Layer, hit the Move Tool (v) and Command-Delete.
5. Every letter selects a tool. Except for:
6. F for Fullscreen.
7. Q for QuickMask.
8. D for Default colors.
9. X for Switch colors.
10. Press a Number to change Opacity.
11. ...or Two Numbers for better Control.
12. Shift-Plus (+) to Advance a Blend Mode.
13. Shift-Minus (-) to Go Back one Blend Mode.
14. Shift-Option+[a letter] for a specific Blend Mode
    (Dissolve=I, Multiple=M, Screen=S, Overlay=O, Soft Light=F, Hard Light=H, Linear Light=J, Vivid Light=J, Pin Light=Z, Color Dodge=D, Color Burn=B, Darken=K, Lighten=G, Difference=E, Exclusion=X, Hue=U, Saturation=T, Color=C, Luminosity=Y, Behind=Q)
15. Windows Folks, Option means Alt for shortcuts.
16. Command-Plus (+) Zooms In.
17. Command-Minus (-) Zooms Out.
18. Spacebar gets the Hand so you can drag the image around.
19. Command-Spacebar = Zoom Tool In.
20. Option-Spcebar = Zoom Tool Out.
21. Command-Spacebar-Drag to zoom in on a specific area.
22. Command-Z for Undo.
23. Command-Option-Z Steps Back one action.
24. Command-Shift-Z Steps Forward one action.
25. Command-Shift-F Fades the last edit.
26. F12 = Revert Document.
27. Hey! You can even Undo a Revert!
28. Command-X = Cut.
29. Command-C = Copy.
30. Command-V = Paste.

Deke sings about how wonderful he is...

31. Image Size = Command-Option-I.
32. It's partner, Canvas Size = Command-Option-C.
33. Command-F repeats the last Filter.
34. Command-Option-F repeats last Filter with Different Settings.
35. Using Selection Tools: Drag to start a new selection.
36. ...or drag to move a selection outline.
37. ...add to a section using Shift.
38. ...delete from a selection using Option.
39. ...find the intersection holding down Shift-Option.
40. ...Press Spacebar to move the selection on the fly.
41. Command-A = Select All.
42. Command-D = Deselects Everything.
43. Command-Shift-I Inverts the existing Selection.
44. Command-Option-R brings up Refine Edge.
45. Option-Click with Lasso tool to select a straight-sided selection.
46. Shift-Click with Brush to draw straight lines.
47. Press Option with Brush to get the Color-Lifting Eyedropper.
48. Press Command to get the Move tool.
49. Command-H = Hide Selection.
50. Command-1 shows 1st channel (Red or Cyan)
51. Command-2 shows 2nd channel (Green or Magenta)
52. Command-3 shows 3rd channel (Blue or Yellow)
53. Command-Tilde (~) shows a Full-Color Composite. (Read about the tilde if you like.)
54. Command-L for Levels.
55. Command-M for Curves.
56. Command-B for Color Balance.
57. Command-U for Hue/Saturation.
58. Add the Option-key to bring up last settings for those last four.
59. Command-Shift-Option for Black and White.
60. In Levels & Curves, Option-drag that White Slider to preview your clip highlights...
61. ...Option-drag the Black Slider to preview clip shadows.
62. Want to duplicate an image? Cool tip! Click this Icon at the bottom of history palette.
63. Command-W to Close an image. Then...
64. ...Y to save changes. (Windows Only)
65. ...N to abandon changes. (Windows Only)
66. ...On a Mac: S=Save and D=Don't Save.
67. ...ESC to Cancel on both Mac and Windows.

Deke sings some more... (whew! Lots of typing!)

68. Press Command-T to invoke Free Transform...
69. ...Enter to Apply, or ESC to Cancel.
70. Command-Option-T will Transform a Copy!
71. Command-Shift-T repeats the last Transformation.
72. Command-Shift-Option-T plays a Transformation sequence.
73. Press the Bracket keys [ or ] to change the size of a Brush.
74. ..add the Shift key to change the brush hardness.
75. Caps Lock for Precise cursors.
76. Option key switches from Dodge to Burn or Burn to Dodge.
77. Hitting the Period in Gradient tool switches between gradients.
78. Here's a tip: The Sharpen Tool Sucks! Don't use it!
79. Command-Click the Thumbnail in Layers or Paths palette to Load a Selection.
80. Type Slash (/) to lock/unlock a Layer's Transparency.
81. Press Tilde (~) to hide an image while Viewing a Mask.
82. Press Backslash (\) to view a Layer's Mask.
83. Command-Delete fills selection with the Background Color.
84. Option-Delete fills selection with the Foreground Color.
85. ...add the Shift key to fill just the Opaque pixels. (cool!)
86. Shift-Delete to bring up the Fill dialog box.
87. Filling using the Behind mode locks out "preserve transparency".
88. Command-Brackets ([ or ]) moves Layers up or down.
89. ...add Shift to move Layers all the way to top or bottom.
90. Option-Brackets ([ or ]) Selects Layers.
91. ...add Shift to select multiple layers.
92. Command-Option-A to select All Layers.
93. Command-G groups Layers into a group.
94. Command-E will Merge Selected Layers.
95. Command-Shift-E will Merge Visible Layers.
96. Command-Option-E will Merge selected Layer onto the Layer below.
97. Command-Shift-Option-E will Merge Everything onto a New Layer.
98. Command-Shift-C Copies a Merged version of Layers.
99. Command-Shift-V will paste an image into a Selection.
100. Hit Tab to Hide all Palettes.
101. Hit Shift-Tab to Hide just the Right-side Palettes.

Finally, Deke finishes up with a little more singing!

Curious what song Deke is butchering? It's Popular by Nada Surf. You can get a copy of the original in Apple's iTunes store, or from Amazon's MP3 collection.

Note: After playing and pausing this video again and again to get everything transcribed, we discovered that Deke has already provided the full transcription on his own site: 101 Photoshop Tips: Transcribed! (Free account required for access)

Source: It's been over two years since Deke released his first/last dekePod episode: How to use scanned money in Adobe Photoshop. Deke is promising new bi-weekly episodes of dekePod on his new dekeOnline blog. Here is to hoping it won't be another two years before the next episode.

Posted by Craig Swanson at 06:00 AM | Permalink

Each summer around this time, Veer publishes their annual Summer Activity Book for Creatives. Each workbook is 100 pages of full-color brain-teasing fun. Spend glorious summer hours playing designer-specific games, puzzles, and more.

PDFs of the last four editions:

Veer Activity Book 2007

Veer Activity Book 2006

Veer Activity Book 2005

Veer Activity Book 2004

Enjoy the upcoming extended weekend. See you next week!

Source: The July 2008 edition hasn't been released yet. Check in on Veer's terrific blog The Skinny for details on the newest summer activity book when it becomes available.

Posted by Craig Swanson at 05:45 AM | Permalink

On June 20, 2008, we performed a Google search using the phrase "Seattle graphic design."

Out of about 722,000 total results, we carefully studied the top 10 websites Google identified as the best match for our search keywords.

Then we compared Google's results to a list of the top 10 Seattle design firms drawn from the 2008 edition of Media Inc’s annual Northwest Graphic Design list.

It's instructive to consider the differences between these lists. Large prominent design firms such as Hornall Anderson, HL2, Fitch, and Methodolgie are largely absent from Google's results. While smaller (some relatively unknown) studios managed to grab Google's top slots.

How do they do it? How do smaller studios like Page 3 Design, Eben Deisgn, and Design Hovie Studios beat out the big Seattle design firms in Google's search results?

More importantly, can you learn how to accomplish the same results for your own studio?

Quick SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for Graphic Designers.

Here is a quick look into a few of the most important factors that influence how your studio’s website ranks in Google search results. With a few strategic changes, and an awareness about how Google's search algorithms work, you can make a big impact on how Google-friendly your website becomes.

Step 1 – Pick good keywords.

This is the foundation for everything else. Think about the words your target client may type into a Google search page when they have problems your studio can help them solve. Build a short, focused list of keywords and phrases that are relevant to your studio’s online brand.

Step 2 – Use your keywords in the Page Title.

The Page Title is one of the most important areas Google and other search engines use to determine what is on a particular web page. Google uses your Page Title as the name of your link in search results (Google even makes the matching keywords bold) so these words have a big impact on search results. Put your keywords or phrases in the title, and keep it short.

Step 3 – Use your keywords in the Page Description.

The Page Description is a short blurb or summary of your web page found in the metadata. Google often uses the first 20-25 words of this description below your site name in search results. As with the Page Title, Google will bold the words that match the user's search terms.

Step 4 – Use your keywords in your writing.

Incorporating keywords into your site’s headlines and body copy is key to your search results. For Google to read your words, they can't be rendered as a graphic or embedded in a Flash element. How often should you repeat your keyword? Our advice is to not overdue it. Write naturally, but train yourself to use fewer pronouns.

Step 5 – Attract links to your website.

The number and quality of links pointing to your website are terribly important to your Google rank. There are a number of different strategies and techniques to pursue at this stage. Some of our highest-ranking examples on this list have made a habit of including a small credit link back to their site on the websites they design. Those links add up quickly, especially if they are included on a page footer that appears on each page in a client's website.

Important – Fix Your Flash Site!

If you (like so many designers) use an all-Flash website, you may really be hurting Google’s ability to understand and index your site. Half of our high-ranking sites in Google's Top-10 list use Flash animations in their design — however, all but one of them use Flash only as a supplemental design element. There are several new ways to add Google-friendly features to an all-Flash portfolio site. We’ll be covering some techniques in future tips, and we'll discuss how to rebuild an example Flash website in this Wednesday's Google for Graphic Designers workshop.

Stay Tuned: SEO for Graphic Designers Parts 2 & 3. (subscribers only)

We've been having a lot of fun researching this topic, and we've got two more posts coming up that will dig even deeper into understanding how you and other design studios can improve your ranking in Google searches.

SEO for Graphic Designers Part 2: What are Studios in Google's Top-10 Doing Right? In this first follow-up, we'll look at each website in Google's top-10 search results for "Seattle graphic design" and uncover the specific Google magic each website is using to accomplish their terrific search engine rank.

SEO for Graphic Designers Part 3: What are Studios in Media Inc's Top-10 Doing Wrong? Even more instructive, in this third part, we'll go through the websites for the 10 largest Seattle-area design firms from Media Inc's list, and determine why their sites don't rank better in these example search results. Amazingly only Phinney/Bischoff Design House shows up in Google's top-100 results (excluding matches in Google maps which are handled differently). Even more amazingly, half of the Seattle-area studios in Media Inc's top-10 list don't appear anywhere in the 722k Google results for this sample search.

Join our growing readership and don't miss out. Sign up for a free weekly tips email or subscribe to the tips RSS feed to ensure you get a copy of parts 2 and 3 of this series.

Email Sign-up: Weekly CreativeTechs Tips.

RSS Feed: CreativeTechs Tips RSS

Not sure what RSS is all about? We've got a couple great tips about that too:

Link: What is RSS? A description in plain English.

Link: Subscribe to RSS news feeds in Safari.

Source: This tip inspired by a ton of research and work for Craig Swanson's upcoming Seattle workshop Google for Graphic Designers this Wednesday June 25th at 9:30am or 4pm. Special thanks and credit to HubSpot's Mike Volpe for the example and inspiration from his article Shortest Tutorial Ever on SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Posted by Craig Swanson at 06:00 AM | Permalink

Adobe Acrobat has many built in features to view, fix, and control prepress issues — including spot and process colors, printer marks, preflighting, and fonts. These various tools can take much of the guesswork out of files when preparing PDFs for commercial printing.

The Output Preview dialog box for example is a terrific tool that allows you to inspect individual color plates in a process or spot color print job, as well as simulating how your PDF will look in different printing conditions.

Note: That's a PDF of our Mac Maintenance Checklist used to demo this tip.

Output Preview: Previewing color separations.

Advanced > Print Production > Output Preview

To view or hide a separation, select or deselect the color name in the Separations list. This list allows you to turn on and off the visibility of the colors used in the PDF. You can turn them on
and off individually or turn on and off all the spot plates. This is one of the easiest ways to see how a file will separate without having to print each plate out.

Simulation Profile: Acrobat uses simulation profiles to approximate output devices and printing mediums when you preview color separations. There are two additional checkboxes below this setting:

• Simulate Black Ink - Simulates the dark gray you get instead of a pure black when printing on many printers. This is according to the proof profile. Not all color profiles support this option.
• Simulate Paper White - Likewise, this option simulates the dingy white of real paper (as opposed to a bright digital monitor), according to the proof profile. Not all profiles support this option.

Total Ink Coverage: Many print shops have a limit to the amount of ink they can print onto a sheet of paper. The general limit is 280% ink out of a possible 400% (100% flood of each of the inks in a CMYK image). Check this box to highlight the areas on your PDF that exceeds this limit.

Source: This tip inspired by Jason Hoppe's June 18th workshop Acrobat: Prepress With PDFs. If you are a designer in the Seattle area, join us this Wednesday morning or afternoon for an in-depth look at how to use PDFs in today's modern graphic design prepress workflow. [See other upcoming workshops.]

Posted by Craig Swanson at 06:00 AM | Permalink

If you want to attract visitors to your studio's website (or if you design websites for clients) you really must understand and use Google's collection of Webmaster Tools. This free service from Google provides you with detailed reports about your website's visibility on Google, as well as giving you valuable ways to influence how your website appears in search results.

Link: Google Webmaster Tools

In this tip we'll dig into this powerful resource that is key for harnessing Google as a marketing vehicle for your creative studio. As part of that discussion, we'll show how you can answer the following questions:

1. When was the last time Google indexed your website?
2. Are there any bad links or missing pages on your site?
3. Does your website's content reflect your brand and target market?
4. Who is linking to your website?
5. How can you make your Flash-based site more findable?
6. Can you stop Google from indexing photos in your portfolio?
7. How do you remove something from Google's search results?

Google Webmaster Tools: Overview

When you log into your Google Webmaster Tools site, you be presented with an overview page. This provides a quick report on Google's index status for your site, and a list of any errors their system found on your site while crawling.

Google Question #1: When was the last time Google indexed your website?

Answer: One of the most useful details on this overview page is a note showing the date Google last successfully accessed your website's home page. Google's search robots (Googlebot) makes a guess how frequently to check your site for future changes, based in part in how often your site's content has changed in the past. If the last successful date on the overview page is not very recent, it may be an indication Google sees your website as something that does not get updated very often.

Google Webmaster Tools: Diagnostics

The Diagnostics page gives you Google's perspective on the hygiene of your site. Are there pages that can't be accessed for one reason or another?

Google Question #2: Are there any bad links or missing pages on your site?

Answer: Google's Diagnostic lists help you weed out links to old, missing pages you might have forgotten about. This can be particularly useful if, for example, you've renamed or reorganized your website file names and organization recently. The list of errors can show you all the links in Google's index that have missing pages. Ideally, you don’t want anything to show up here, so be sure to review and, if possible, resolve errors that you see.

Google Webmaster Tools: Statistics

For a creative studio, the Statistics page provides you a powerful look into how Google sees your website content. Many studio owners find this feature a tremendously useful and eye-opening experience. Google lists the top search terms that lead people to your site, provides a list of the most frequent words in your site's content, and other details.

Google Question #3: Does your website's content reflect your brand and target market?

Answer: Take a look at the "What Googlebot Sees" section in Statistics. Scroll down to a list of the prominent keywords Google found in the words on your website. Now ask yourself a question: Do those keywords accurately reflect your studio's brand? If not, it's time to sit down and rework the copy on your site to reflect the words you want search engines to associate with your studio.

Here is a personal example: When we looked at the keyword reports for creativetechs.com several years ago, we noticed the word "Seattle" did not show up in our keyword list. That was a significant omission, because while we have thousands of readers around the world, we pay our bills by supporting local Seattle-area creative teams. After that realization, we started mentioning Seattle more prominently in the tips we write (examples here, here, here, here, and here).

Today, the keyword "Seattle" is slowly creeping up on our site. Do a Google search on "Seattle Mac" these days and the CreativeTechs website should show up as the second or third result.

Google Webmaster Tools: Links

The Links tab shows you where your pages are linked, both externally and internally.

Google Question #4: Who is linking to your website?

Answer: Google's Webmaster Links page provides the most comprehensive list of inbound links you'll find. It provides a breakdown of almost every page on the internet that links to your site. It is a remarkable list. You're sure to be surprised at some of the links you discover.

Google Webmaster Tools: Sitemaps

Sitemaps can help Google discover pages their crawlers might not otherwise find.

Google Question #5: How can you make your Flash-based site more findable?

Answer: In its simplest terms, a Sitemap is a list of the pages on your website. Creating and submitting a Sitemap helps make sure that Google knows about all the pages on your site, including URLs that may not be discoverable by Google's normal crawling process. If your studio uses a Flash-based welcome page, adding a sitemap can make a huge difference in your site visibility for Google.

Google Webmaster Tools: Tools

The Tools section deserves special attention because it provides a wealth of ways to control your site interaction with Google. We'll focus on two features here that allow you greater control over what Google indexes with you site.

Google Question #6: Can you stop Google from indexing photos in your portfolio?

Answer: Google helps you create a custom robots.txt file to indicate which robots you don't want crawling your site, and which files or directories you don't want indexed. This can be particularly useful for photographers who don't want their website images showing up in a Google Image Search. Designers can use this feature to prevent Google from searching and indexing any open "Work In Progress" directories that might contain client proofs. The example below show how a photographer might tell Googlebot-Image (Google's image search robot) to ignore all photos inside an "images" folder on their web portfolio site.

Google Question #7: How do I remove something from Google's search results?

Answer: This is a call we get every now and then from clients (in fact, we might run this as a stand-alone tip someday). What if you need to remove something confidential or embarrassing from Google's search results? For example, what if you don't want your website showing up when someone searches for a particular ex-employees name. It can take weeks or months for that old information to eventually fall out of Google's index. But you can use the special Remove URL feature to get Google to drop the old references much more quickly.

Additional Resources.

For additional reading on Google's powerful Webmaster Tools, we offer links to some terrific resources:

The Blogger’s Guide to Google Webmaster Tools

Giving Your Website an SEO Check-Up

Source: This tip inspired by Craig Swanson's upcoming June 25th workshop Google for Graphic Designers. In this 90-minute workshop we'll dig into how you can build your websites for maximum exposure in today's search engines. With a special look into Google's Webmaster and Analytics tools for understanding and improving how potential customers can find your website when they need it. This is the 2nd of our 3-part workshop series on online marketing techniques. (See workshop list below)

Posted by Craig Swanson at 05:45 AM | Permalink

For years, Tim Russert of Meet the Press has been my weekly Sunday companion as I write, finish, and proof this weekly tips newsletter. I was deeply saddened to learn of his death last Friday.

Tim, I will miss you. Sundays won't be the same without you.

Posted by Craig Swanson at 05:38 PM | Permalink

Apple's Word Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) sold out this year for the first time ever. For those of us who aren't lucky enough to be down in San Francisco this week, Apple has posted the 1 hour and 45 minute video.

Watch it online on Apple's website:

Link: Apple WWDC 2008 Keynote

Or download the video to your own iPhone/iPod from Apple's new Keynote Podcast in iTunes. This latest video has been posted along with many other historic presentations:

Link: Apple Keynotes Podcast

Too busy? Read past the jump for a great 60-second version of the WWDC Keynote.

Too Busy? Watch the 60-Second Version Here:

Mahalo has trimmed down the WWDC video to 60 seconds. So if you don't wish to sit through the almost 2 hour WWDC keynote, you can just watch a 60 second clip that shows the main points.

Posted by Craig Swanson at 11:41 PM | Permalink

Welcome to our special iPhone tips edition. This Monday in San Francisco, Steve Jobs is kicking off Apple's World Wide Developer Conference with a keynote that should unveil Apple's new second-generation iPhone.

If you find yourself with a hankerin' to start designing the next big iPhone gadget, we'd like to direct you to a free set of templates from Yahoo Developer's Network. This free download includes (among other things) an editable collection of iPhone interface elements. Open their PDF iPhone stencil in Illustrator and you can snap together your own iPhone design from dozens of editable elements.

Link: Yahoo! Design Stencil Kit version 1.0

Yahoo! Design Stencil Kit

While we focused on the iPhone templates for this week's tip, Yahoo's kit includes design elements for many, many more user interface environments:

• Ad Units
• Calendars
• Carousels
• Charts and Tables
• UI Controls
• Form Elements
• Grids
• Menus and Buttons
• Mobile - General
• Mobile - iPhone
• Navigation and Pagination
• OS Elements
• Placeholder Text
• Screen Resolutions
• Tabs
• Windows and Containers

Download a set for yourself and have some fun.

Link: Yahoo! Design Stencil Kit version 1.0

iPhone Sketchpaper

Finally, here's a bonus for designers who prefer an old school pencil-and-paper approach to designing. The iPhone sketchpaper collection:

Link: iPhone Sketchpaper

Download the PDF and print-out a collection of iPhone brainstorming cards. This should be a great way to storyboard videos or websites for iPhone users.

Source: Our own Jasson Lewellen, Seattle's Ponytailed Software Geek, is down at WWDC right now with a firsthand view of what's coming up next for the iPhone, Mac OS X, and Apple. We originally discovered the Yahoo! kits on the fabulous Creativebits blog, with a reminder posted on The Graphic Mac.

Posted by Craig Swanson at 06:00 AM | Permalink

It is pretty easy to embed an iPhone-optimized video in any website you are designing. Which can be a nice flourish to welcome the growing hordes of iPhone users who might be visiting your site soon.

Sound hard? It's not. Apple has added a special Export to Web option to QuickTime Pro ($30) that makes the process nearly automatic.

What iPhone users see.

When a movie has been optimized for web-delivery, iPhone users in your audience will see a small blue play button in the lower right of the video thumbnail. Tapping that blue icon activates the iPhone's built-in QuickTime player and plays a special optimized version of the movie.

QuickTime Pro Tutorial: Export for Video

Note: Apple has automated much of the hard work, however this technique does require a medium-level knowledge of HTML and web publishing to accomplish. You'll need to be comfortable uploading and finding files on your website, as well as making minor changes to HTML code.

Step 1: Open your Movie and choose File > Export for Web...

Step 2: Name your Exported Files and Select Web Versions.

In the dialog that appears, specify a filename and select a location for the exported movies and HTML ReadMe file. Then select the web versions you want to create of your movie.

• iPhone: Creates a movie that is optimized for delivery to iPhone over a Wi-Fi connection.
• iPhone (cellular): Creates a highly compressed movie that is optimized for delivery to iPhone over a slower cellular connection.
• Desktop: Creates a movie optimized for delivery to computers over broadband connections.

Click Export to generate the needed files.

Step 3: QuickTime Pro will generate the needed files.

Step 4: Upload the Resulting Folder of Files to your Website.

The cool part of this Export to Web process is the resulting ReadMe.html file that gets created. This is a slick custom webpage that contains easy copy-and-paste HTML you can use to embed your movie into a webpage.

You can view the resulting ReadMe.html from our example here:

Link: Example Export - Ninjas ReadMe.html

The ReadMe.html file also provides a preview of what your embedded movie looks like.

Step 5: Follow the instructions to copy HTML to your website.

As a final step, follow the instructions in the ReadMe.html file to copy and paste your embedded movie into your website. Apple provides script links you need to paste in the <head> of your web pages, and separate code for the <body> of your web page where you want the video to be displayed.

If your web page file will be located in a different directory from the movie files, you'll need to change all the links for the movie URL to include the full path. For example, in our case we needed to replace links to our movie Ninjas.mov with the full URL where that movie is located on our web site: http://creativetechs.com/tips/tip_resources/ChaseJarvis-Ninjas/Ninjas.mov.

Required: QuickTime Pro. If your Export options are grayed out, you probably need to purchase a $30 upgrade to QuickTime Pro from Apple. This gives you access to the full set of QuickTime features this tip requires:

Link: Apple's QuickTime Pro.

Source: Our example movie features Chase Jarvis RAW: Ninjas, a behind-the-scenes video detailing a fun Chase Jarvis photo shoot from last year. Thanks for letting us use this Chase! We started thinking about this iPhone video tip two months ago while writing about how to Create a QuickTime Video Landing Page for Seattle design Darlin Gray.

Posted by Craig Swanson at 05:45 AM | Permalink

If you've been wondering what Stanley Hainsworth has been up to since leaving Starbucks, check out the website for Tether, a new global creative company based in Seattle:

Stanley Hainsworth's Tether

Tether is a global creative company based in Seattle, Washington founded by Stanley Hainsworth, former creative director at Nike, Lego and Starbucks. Located in a gallery space in historic Pioneer Square, there is the creative gallery where Tether designed products are sold as well as curated products and artwork. Within the gallery space the full-service Tether agency creates emotional brand connections for established and start-up brands across all creative disciplines including brand, identity, product design, advertising, digital design, packaging, branded entertainment and retail design. It is located in a gallery space in historic Pioneer Square.

Technorati Tags:
Stanley Hainsworth, Tether, Seattle, Starbucks, Creative

Posted by Craig Swanson at 05:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Continuing with our screen capture theme: If you've used this window grab technique over time, you may have noticed a significant change in Leopard. Apple now includes the window's shadow in your resulting screen capture (in previous versions of Mac OS X, only the window itself was captured).

Including the shadow isn't necessarily a bad idea, but that change causes disruption for some designers (and tip writers) who regularly use these screen captures in documentation.

What's more, in Leopard those shadows are big! The shadow alone adds up to 70 pixels to the height and width of your window. And worse, the shadow size varies depending whether your window is in the foreground or background.

Photoshop Actions: Clean Leopard Shadows.

We've built a couple Photoshop actions to clean up Leopard screen grabs. The first set strips out the large shadow in Leopard windows and replaces it with a smaller Tiger-style shadow using Photoshop Layer Styles. The second action is for screen grabs of Leopard menu items.

Download this ZIP file which contains our Photoshop Actions file.

Clean-Leopard-Shadows.zip

Once you've uncompressed it, you can load the Actions into your copy of Photoshop by choosing "Load Actions" from the fly-out menu in the Actions Palette.

Script 1: Clean Leopard Shadows - Windows

This first script removes the extra 70 pixels of shadow added by Leopard, replaces it with a simple Photoshop Layer Style that emulates the old Tiger-shadow, and trims your grab down to reflect the smaller shadow. From there you can remove or edit that layer style as you wish.

Before:

After:

Script 2: Clean Leopard Shadows - Menus

This second script cleans screen grabs of Leopard menus, which are much harder to deal with. In addition to including the drop shadows around your menu, Leopard also adds a subtle-but-frustrating transparency to the menu itself. This script removes the shadow, makes the menus themselves fully opaque, and adds back a traditional Tiger-style shadow (which you can edit or turn off).

Before:

After:

Other Leopard Screen Grab Resources:

We are not the only ones who have been effected by the screen grab changes in Leopard. Here are some links to a few other related blog posts about Leopard screen grabs.

Ryan Ireland: Screen Grabs in Leopard

Ryan Ireland: CleanGrab - Screengrabs in Leopard

Tech Scorn: Leopard Screencaps w/o Shadow

MacWorld: Use new screen region capture options in 10.5

Source: We use these scripts almost every week when preparing screenshots for our weekly tips newsletter.

Posted by Craig Swanson at 06:00 AM | Permalink

Here's a trick I rely on all the time. The keyboard shortcut to take a screen capture of a specific, isolated, window in Mac OS X:

Command+Shift+4, then tap the Spacebar.

Most designers know the Command-Shift-4 shortcut which gives you a small crosshair you can use to crop in on a specific part of your window. Tapping the Spacebar afterwards switches to a camera icon that takes a cropped picture of any window you click on.

Saved as "Picture 1" on your Desktop.

Look for a file named something like "Picture 1" on your desktop. In Leopard and Tiger, the picture will be saved as a PNG file. Panther saves the image as a PDF.

Even better, your window is captured with full transparency. That means when you open the resulting PNG file in Photoshop, you've retained your rounded corners, and any transparent elements. Terrific for documenting Macintosh software or techniques.

Examples of What You Can Grab.

Grab menu items:

Grab dashboard widgets:

Grab icons from the Desktop:

The results of these grabs are all nicely cropped PNG files that maintain the transparency of the windows or elements. Perfect for documentation. Give it a try.

Source: This was our very first tip that kicked off this weekly tips newsletter back in August 2004. At CreativeTechs we've become pretty adept at various screenshot techniques over the years.

Posted by Craig Swanson at 05:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)