Photoshop colorization for FSMA

Ok, so the client emails a photo over, a pretty good photo, the only problem is the color of the wrist band is red-this was the branding color from way, way back. That’s fine, I’m going to share a little secret on how this was done. We used Photoshop CS4:

1. Add  new adjustment layer > Hue and Saturation

2. Select Red from the master drop down menu (or a color near to the one you want to change)

3. Move the Hue slider to get the correct color, at this point you can also use the Saturation and Lightness sliders to effect the color.

A bit too technical for some, but the point I’m trying to get across is the client did not have to hire a photographer, spend the time getting a new shot, etc. Sometimes you can re-purpose old material for new uses, as in this case.

General Plating Company home page

We love this client. No Flash, no shopping card, no gallery, no forms, just one page? Lets get back to basics again. General Plating Company came to us with a simple request, to have a presence on the web. They needed a page that validates the company and gives a brief description of services offered.  They wanted to connect with possible leads face to face or over the phone, this site offers enough information to accomplish that in one page. Sometimes it is smart to start small and expand on the basics.

Social networking icons

Recently we have been adding different social icons to our clients sites – and just added these to our site . As they set up a Facebook page, Twitter account, blog or Linkedin profile we add the icons and links. If you don’t want to set up your accounts, we can do that for you, making it look good as well, with custom banners and graphics.

Anyway, getting back to the icons above, whats with the Twitter one being crossed out? The story is we need to work, so Twitter will have to wait. It takes extra time out of our busy schedule to keep all the social sites up to date, so until we can handle Twittering, we put it on hold.

Whats with the sketchy icons? I love to draw, sometimes during a project I forget to put pen to paper, but the best ideas for projects come from thumbnail sketches, so it’s nice to sit back and get back to basics – drawing.

FSMA Directions Summer Issue 2010

Print is here to stay. It started out as a 36 page newsletter for The Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (FSMA) organization; information on events, photos, research news and more. Members and families loved to get this publication, now a few years later, the organization has grown and so has the publication, the Summer 2010 issue is 92 pages!

It is great to see that print is alive and well, so many clients are focused on internet based marketing and communication they fail to see the power of the printed page. If you would like to get a sample of this excellent publication call me and I’ll send one out.

If you would like to support FSMA please visit their website at www.curesma.org.

Grove United Soccer Tournament Program

It’s good to give. We recently volunteered our time to help design and produce a 84 page program booklet for the Grove United Memorial Day Shootout Soccer Tournement. The job reminds me of the magazine publishing days, ads need to be requested and placed in program, maps need to be drawn up and schedules for 100′s of games flowed in. Of course it all happens a few days before going to press!

Anyway, anyone interested in seeing some great soccer playing, head over to Olympic park in Schaumburg Memorial day weekend. I’ll be there cheering my daughter on, so say hi if you see me. It’s always good to give.

You can see this in action here:

http://www.evanhilldesign.net/clients/be/lookbooks.html

This is not for every project, any text heavy page or small typeface would not work well.

iPhone Home screen

We recently helped Softa Ventures with the graphic look and feel of their iPhone application “Anytime Card”. This included design of the small icon, home screen and web landing page. More later…..