CreativeTechs Tips

CreativeTechs is looking for an additional Mac Consultant to join our team. We've been continuing to grow over the last year. We are (frankly) somewhat desperate for a talented Mac IT person who can hit the ground running and continue to help our team grow to the next level.

Over the last decade, CreativeTechs has grown into the Pacific Northwest’s premiere team of Macintosh experts. Our Mac IT consultants support some of the best Mac-based creative teams in the greater Seattle area, including design firms, ad agencies, photographers, video studios, and in-house creative departments.

Continue reading "CreativeTechs is Hiring!" »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 05:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At CreativeTechs, we pride ourselves on providing great Mac support for Seattle-area creative teams. But with our increased success over the last year, our schedule has become too tight to respond to long-term clients as quickly as we'd like.

To address that, the Mac support side of CreativeTechs is becoming a members-only support service. We no longer provide tech support for non-member clients. Our time is now dedicated exclusively for taking care of member clients with an ongoing support relationship.

This is a big step for us. If you are a Seattle creative pro who has relied on CreativeTechs for sporadic Mac support over the years, we can be your support team. But we are no longer available for one-time troubleshooting projects.

Note: The training side of CreativeTechs remains open to EVERYONE.

Posted by Craig Swanson at 01:48 PM | Permalink

Presidents' Day (today) is a national holiday in the United States. In honor of the extended weekend, here is a fun project. Design-Police.org has created a great "visual enforcement kit" that includes a wide number of stickers. Download the PDF, print them out, and help bring bad design to justice:

Design-Police.org

For even more fun, combine these stickers with our Acrobat PDF Stamp tip this week, and start critiquing digital proofs from around the office.

Continue reading "Design Police Proofing Stickers." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 09:15 AM | Permalink

CreativeTechs is taking a different approach to professional training. We've organized our materials into dozens of smaller, bite-sized modules. The results are shorter, focused sessions, which let you get the training you need, without setting aside an entire day away from the office.

Download a PDF of our Training Brochure and see what upcoming workshops catch your eye. Then join us Wednesday and Thursday mornings for the fun:

CreativeTechs Training Feb08.pdf

Missed a good one? All our topics are available for one-on-one training. Email training@creativetechs.com or call 206-682-4315 to schedule a personalized training session.

Continue reading "February 2008 Mini-Workshop Schedule!" »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you don't have a full hour-and-half you can dedicate to watching Steve Jobs' latest keynote at Macworld 2008, here is a great video that lets you catch the entire 90-minute speech in 60 seconds!

Remarkably all the highlights are there. If you feel inspired to watch the full version, here's the link at Apple's website:

Macworld 2008 Keynote Address

Tip: For the best part, jump ahead to 58 minutes into the presentation when Steve Jobs unveils the new MacBook Air by pulling it out of a thin envelope on stage.

Continue reading "Macworld 2008 Keynote in 60 Seconds!" »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mac OS X Leopard Server was released in October 2007. CreativeTechs' Enterprise Consultant, Jordan Bojar, has developed a special series of hands-on workshops that dig into the most important new features, and covers in detail how they impact larger creative teams in the Seattle area.

Continue reading "Seattle Events: Leopard Server Workshops" »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 05:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our new 90-minute mini-workshop format appears to have been a hit last year. And as we usher in 2008, we're expanding the topics as well as setting aside each Thursday morning for an ongoing series of Photoshop CS3 training workshops. Check out the list for a couple free topics as well.

Here's the pitch: Join us Wednesday or Thursday mornings at 9:30am in our Seattle offices (sorry, not available remotely yet). Pick up a couple new skills, and get back to work before lunch. You can put what you learned into use the same day.

Sign up for a couple interesting topics, and check-off one to-do on your New Year's resolution list!

Continue reading "January 2008 Mini-Workshop Schedule!" »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 06:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's nothing better on a cold winter day than gathering together in front of a warm crackling fire. Back in 1966, Channel 11 WPIX in New York City began broadcasting The Yule Log each Christmas Eve as a televised gift for people who lived in apartments and homes without fireplaces.

Today, over 40 years later, what could make a better Christmas-eve tip than a link for your own iPod-resolution version of that fireplace classic:

Original Yule Log for iPod (WPIX-TV)

In 2001, The Yule Log returned to TV sets in select cities with an updated edition for HDTV. The 3-hour recording of a burning log won its time slot in the Nielsen ratings each year since it was brought back. Wikipedia has a fascinating account of The Yule Log's rise, decline, and revival.

Continue reading "Download the Holiday Yule Log." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 12:00 AM | Permalink

Seattle graphic designer Pat Hansen (the founding president of Seattle's AIGA) has created a special line of personalized gifts. The deadline is closing fast for Christmas.

Personalized Gift Jars from Noteable You

Each individual gift includes dozens of your personal messages from you about your loved one. You choose the gift container, the design, the colors and up to 100 personalized messages. They'll walk you through the ordering process. Whether it’s for a last-minute Christmas gift, something for the New Year, or just for a friend who needs a bit of cheer, Noteable You Gifts are the perfect item.

Posted by Craig Swanson at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A classic designer's lament updated for the holiday season. Every time a bell rings, that's an agency's account executive caving in to this client demand...

Source: Thanks to Very Big Blog for the tip to this fun holiday video. Original video and song from World Wide Wadio. Of course don't forget the original hard-rock edition. Seconded by Mac support specialist Tim Hannon of Sound Support.

Posted by Craig Swanson at 07:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The entire MP3 collection is available for free — just in time for Halloween parties. Download your favorites to your iPod, or burn CD's right from your computer.

Jason at the Scar Stuff blog provides the MP3s in zipped files for each album. For immediate gratification, scroll down this post where you can play tracks from a few of our favorite albums.

Enjoy! And Happy Halloween from CreativeTechs in Seattle!

Continue reading "Classic Halloween Vinyl Records on MP3s." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 08:44 PM | Permalink

Each Wednesday morning, CreativeTechs hosts a new 90-minute mini-workshop in our training room in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood.

Join us Wednesday mornings 9:30am to 11am. Pick up a couple new skills, and get back to work before lunch. You can put what you learn into use the same day. The cost is $50 per workshop.

On October 3, we have a particularly fun topic. Our master retoucher, Jason Hoppe, will be leading a special workshop on retouching skin in Photoshop. This workshop demonstrates a wide range of techniques for dealing with the unique challenges involved in retouching faces and bodies.

Continue reading "Retouching Skin Workshop - October 3, 2007" »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 07:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week in Seattle watch for Metro busses carrying a new "Northwest Profiles" campaign for PEMCO Insurance. We mention this for three reasons:

#1: PEMCO Insurance is our client. We've supported their Mac-based in-house design department for years.

#2: The Seattle ad agency DNA Brand Mechanics, who helped create this new campaign, is also one of our long-standing clients.

#3: That's our own hardware-guru Jasson Lewellen, proudly portrayed in Northwest Profile 12, as the "Ponytailed Software Geek."

You can see more of Jasson by visiting PEMCO's We're A Lot Like You website and clicking on his profile.

Continue reading "Watch for Seattle's Ponytailed Software Geek!" »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 02:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In honor of the American Labor Day holiday, we'd like to link to a little rap video our graphic design clients might appreciate. Enjoy the extended weekend!

Continue reading "Original Design Gangsta Rap Video." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 10:22 AM | Permalink

We ran this same tip last year — and I haven't found a fireworks screensaver I like better. So, in honor of America's summer Independence Day celebrations, here are links to Skyrocket, a free, fun, 4th of July screen saver you can download for your Mac or PC:

Mac Version of Skyrocket

Windows Version of Skyrocket

Want to see the screensaver in action before deciding to download? You can watch a couple 1-minute screen capture videos on the full version of this tip.

Continue reading "Fun 4th of July Fireworks Screensaver." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 12:03 PM | Permalink

Finally, for the graphic designers among us. Enjoy a two minute and thirty-six second rock rendition of that client request you've heard time and again:

Continue reading "Make The Logo Bigger. The Song." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 01:31 AM | Permalink

Check this out. Photographer Chase Jarvis stiched together every photo he shot over a 5-day period into a tight little self-promotion video. The collection includes hundreds of lighting tests, outtakes, blown angles, and odd experiments (anyone catch the chicken that wandered into one of the shots?).

Check out the full backstory at the Chase Jarvis Blog.

Individually this collection might not be much to write about. But when all 2,000 images are edited together with a hypnotic soundtrack, the result is almost cinematic.

All the images are shown in the exact order they were shot back in 2006 -- long before the idea of collecting them into a video occurred to anyone. It is a fascinating look at the amount of work that goes into creating 6 to 10 commercially viable images.

Continue reading "Chase Jarvis FRAMES: 5-days shooting in 4 minutes." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 07:15 PM | Permalink

Last Wednesday morning, a Seattle construction crew cut through a water main one block from the CreativeTechs office. About the same time our office phone lines and DSL went dead, killing our main Internet access.

Yet, throughout this day's drama, our office email kept flowing and we had full access to the Internet. Why? Because we had taken our own advice and already had a second, inexpensive backup Internet connection in place. Read that tip here: Keep your Internet up using two providers.

Posted by Craig Swanson at 12:50 PM | Permalink

As a service for Seattle-area creative teams, we are offering a complimentary strategy session with CreativeTechs' lead consultant Craig Swanson. Take this opportunity to map out your creative team's upgrade strategy for this complex series of upgrades.

Continue reading "Free CS3 & Leopard Planning in Seattle." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 04:56 PM | Permalink

Update: All the free sessions have been snatched up. If you missed out, drop us an email us at at training@creativetechs.com. If there is enough interest, we might add a couple more days to Jason's schedule.

In February, CreativeTechs welcomed Jason Hoppe into our growing support team. Jason provides high end production training, photo retouching, color correction, and other creative workflow management consulting.

Many of our clients aren't yet used to calling CreativeTechs when they need software training or production support. So to kick things off, we're offering free training sessions for our Seattle-area membership clients:

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Adobe InDesign QuarkXPress

Adobe Acrobat Studio Color Management E-Pro Workflow (General) E-Pro for Microsoft Vendors

We've set aside 4 days through April, and have 16 11 7 5 4 only 2 no more open slots (sorry). We'll come out to your office. You pick the 1-hour session of your choice. This offer is open for all current CreativeTechs member clients.

Not a CreativeTechs member client? You can still qualify for a free session — but there is a catch. Read on for full details.

Continue reading "Free software training in Seattle." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 05:48 PM | Permalink

Please excuse this short diversion from our normal weekly tip schedule. For those of us in the marketing and design community, many cartoons in this Brand Camp collection ring eerily true.

Continue reading "Tom Fishburne's Brand Camp Cartoons." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CreativeTechs would like to welcome the newest member of our growing support team: Jason Hoppe.

Continue reading "CreativeTechs welcomes Jason Hoppe." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is just fun. Enter your own details and this little app builds an animated opening sequence, including animated logos for your own film company, distributor, and the characteristic crawling yellow text that opens each Star Wars episode.

http://alienryderflex.com/crawl/

Warning: The current version of this application generates over 2,000 individual BMP files that need to be stitched together with a tool like QuickTime Pro. Make sure to save all those images into a new folder. Whatever you do, don't make the mistake of saving all those files to your desktop!

Continue reading "Create your own Star Wars opening sequence." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Over the years we've collected a variety of papercraft Macintosh templates. So when we found this foldable iPhone template at iPhoneCountdown.com we knew it must be added to the list!

iPhone Readymech.pdf.

Find yourself waiting impatiently for the June release of Apple's revolutionary iPhone? This project might buy you an hour or two of release.

Continue reading "Fold your own iPhone today." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 12:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As part of a special week of font tips I'd like to mention an upcoming feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. Titled simply: Helvetica.

Helvetica will begin screening at film festivals worldwide in early 2007, followed by limited cinema screenings and a DVD release. For now you can watch four short QuickTime clips featuring interviews with Wim Crouwel, Neville Brody, Erik Spiekermann and others.

Continue reading "Helvetica: The Film." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 01:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

At CreativeTechs one of our highest priorities is developing and maintaining safe, stable backup systems for creative teams.

As a service for Seattle-area creative teams, we are offering a complimentary 1-hour personalized backup strategy session with CreativeTechs' lead consultant Craig Swanson.

We've set aside 4 days in January, and have 16 9 open slots. If you manage a creative team, we encourage you to call and schedule a session. We'll make sure it is a valuable use of your time.

Continue reading "Free Personalized Backup Strategy Session." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 12:45 PM | Permalink

From all of us here at CreativeTechs we wish you a safe and warm holiday season. And a prosperous new year.

For anyone looking for one last paper-folding project in 2006, we invite you to pull out an old box of business cards and visit HXA7241 for a step-by-step recipe to create your own business card polyhedra.

Continue reading "Business Card Holiday Ornaments." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here is an inexpensive turntable that lets you easily record your old vinyl record collection to CD or MP3. The turntable comes bundled with Audacity, a recording application that works with both PCs and Macs. Although the turntable can work with any software that supports USB audio input (such as Apple's GarageBand).

Link: Ion iTTUSB Turntable with USB

Continue reading "Convert your old vinyl records to CD's or MP3's." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is admittedly last-minute, but if you're in New York City looking for something to do tonight we suggest you stop by the SOHO Apple store (103 Prince Street; corner Prince and Greene) for a multimedia presentation by Seattle-based commercial photographer Chase Jarvis.

Part of a free lecture series presented by Apple and ASMP.

Continue reading "Chase Jarvis Speaks at the New York Apple Store SoHo" »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The bad news: Your network is overloaded and slowing to a crawl. You team is producing larger files, but your server can't handle it. And you'd rather not admit it, but your studio's archiving and backup strategies are held together with duct tape and WD-40.

The good news: For a lot of companies, it's budget planning time, and you might get a chance to fund some solutions to your server woes in 2007.

As a service for Seattle-area creative teams, we are offering a complimentary server strategy session with CreativeTechs' lead consultant Craig Swanson. Take this opportunity to map out your creative team's server strategy for the coming year.

We've set aside 4 days through December, and have 16 open slots. If you manage a creative team, we encourage you to call and schedule a session. We'll make sure it is a valuable use of your time.

Continue reading "Free server planning sessions in Seattle." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What better way to spend Halloween night than with George Romero's classic 1968 zombie flick. Start the download, pick up the popcorn, and huddle around the computer screen while you stay up late for the trick-or-treaters.

Night of the Living Dead lapsed into the public domain due to neglected copyright notices and can be freely downloaded, copied and shared.

Note: The main zombie attacks don't start until about an hour into the film — you'll have to judge the appropriateness of watching this movie in your creative studio.

Continue reading "Download "Night of the Living Dead" for free." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've been adding an extra blog-related tip to our weekly newsletter to promote an upcoming blogging talk CreativeTechs' Craig Swanson is giving at the School of Visual Concepts next month.

This week's scheduled tip wasn't quite done by press time, so here is a fun replacement:

Visit the online Concert Ticket Generator

Enter your information and picture of a concert ticket will be generated for you. Impress your friends or help promote your own event.

Oh by the way... know a Seattle-area designer who might appreciate an easier way to keep their online portfolio updated? Forward them this tip and invite them to sign up. Thanks!

Continue reading "The online Concert Ticket Generator" »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 07:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This mini-documentary about Firefly Press in Somerville Massachusetts remains one of the most popular items we've mentioned:

You might wonder what a 6-minute documentary about traditional letterpress is doing mixed in with computer tips for graphic designers. After all, this is technology from the age of Ben Franklin.

Continue reading "Wonderful documentary about Firefly Press." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In honor of the 4th of July: For tip readers in America, here is the best Mac-based fireworks screensaver I've seen:

Mac Version of Skyrocket or Windows Version of Skyrocket.

Want to see it in action before deciding to download? We've uploaded a couple short video capture to YouTube. This first one is my favorite. The camera is looking directly up:

Fireworks are rendered in 3D with realistic sound, camera flares, and lighting. The camera view can be set to fly around the the fireworks display. Hypnotic.

Continue reading "Best Fireworks Screensaver Ever!" »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 06:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Who remembers the 80's band, Breathe?

One of the original band members now owns a web development company, and has re-recorded their hit "Hands to Heaven" as a loving tribute to the perils of web development. If you are a web designer who was in school in the mid 80's, this MP3 might hit a few chords for you:

Hands to Heaven: The CSS Edition.

Source: Marcus Lillington is now one of three founders of Headscape, a UK web design firm founded in 2002. Marcus co-hosts the boagworld.com podcast to whom this song is dedicated. Read the original article and some lyrics in the boagworld blog.

Continue reading "An 80's love song about web standards." »

Posted by Craig Swanson at 09:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)