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It’s been a while since I’ve posted to the homepage.
PSD Tuts+ has a post with some quite stunning Photoshopped space paintings.
This one one is by Greg Martin
The NJ Art Directors Club held their design “Olympics” Friday, May 20th honoring the best of the best in marketing communications throughout New Jersey. We took home five awards—two gold, two silver and one bronze—at the 48th annual awards show deemed “the best creative show in New Jersey.”
We took home the gold in the Mobile App category for Weatherwise™ and its associated weather themes. The app and themes also received two silver awards in the Miscellaneous Illustration category. A bronze award was bestowed in the Product/Service Promotion Website category for the Weatherwise™ website, http://www.weatherwiseapp.com.
The Art Directors Club of New Jersey (ADCNJ) is a statewide, non-profit organization of art directors, graphic designers, illustrators, and other creative professionals. Founded in 1961, the ADCNJ provides an opportunity for stimulating ideas, discovering new talents, sources, and techniques and provides a forum for the promotion and advancement of the professional designer and artist.
Now adorning our shelves, the awards will be mentioned for years to come as we’re truly proud of the work and effort that went into Weatherwise™. To receive such props from our industry peers is truly humbling.
If you haven’t downloaded Weatherwise™ yet, you probably should. Once it’s on your phone, you can say you have an “award winning” app delivering your daily weather forecast. Who can beat that?!
Download for iPhone
Download for Android
Check out photos from the event:
I’ve had multiple people, including a VP of Sales for a major CPG company, ask me recently, “Don’t you think QR codes are just a trend?” Perhaps he was not so much asking but more shedding his thoughts, which I’m always keen to hear. I find casual conversations derive some of the best insight one could ever have on this ever-changing digital space that we’re in. Nevertheless, I have to politely disagree with him and here’s why…
When Facebook first came out my sophomore year in college, EVERYone was saying it was just a fad. They were quick to join but equally as quick to join some of the first groups touting Facebook’s destiny for a quick fail. I never “joined” those groups (these days I wouldn’t hit the “like” button) and I’ll tell you why: I found Facebook fascinating. I enjoyed seeing friends’ pictures and having instant access to their personal info. It was entertaining to say the least.
What does this have to do with QR Codes? Well, I think there’s something fascinating about them, and it goes back to that thought on instant access. If I’m reading a flyer for a local retailer and there’s a QR code related to a product I’m interested in, I’m likely to scan the code because I want that product and the destination of that code is going to give me all of the info I want, possibly more. Will everyone scan it, no? But shouldn’t we (as marketers) be going after the quality of our audience and not the quantity?
QR codes won’t be used by everyone. But for the select group that chooses to use them, I think you’re bound to reach the goals you’re looking to achieve, even it’s simply to share more information to your target audience. They’ll be grateful for that instant access, trust me.
I would love to ask all of those early Facebookers if they regret joining that group declaring Facebook’s fall years ago. In a few years, I wonder if I’ll be asking my sales-focused colleague if he changed his mind about QR codes. What do you think?
I write this post with great pride and elation over the launch of our first mobile application for both iPhone and Android, Weatherwise ™.
Weatherwise™ is a creative way to visualize the weather using a series of imaginative themes and weather states.
Visit our website http://www.weatherwiseapp.com to download it.
We are equally proud to announce that Weatherwise™ is a finalist for five awards from the Art Directors Club of New Jersey (ACDNJ) including best illustration, best mobile application and best website. Winners will be announced on Friday, May 20th.
The standard, free theme Zen Tree, is based on a tranquil Bonsai tree that reacts to changes in weather. Features include a swaying lantern indicating wind or snowy branches displaying winter conditions.
Additional themes are available for $0.99 and include the following:
Lost Robot
No longer in use and left to rust, the Lost Robot sits and waits for his master. Depending upon the time of day and weather condition, he illuminates the forest floor with vibrant colors. Learn the speed of the wind as the Lost Robot billows smoke from his back.
The Wobbles
These fun loving creatures enjoy the art of staring. Tilt your phone away from you and watch as the Woobles keep looking directly at YOU. Enjoy getting your forecast from the whole Wooble family, complete with 10 different Woobles ready to unearth themselves during certain times of day and weather conditions.
Personas
See a woman clad with pearls when it’s icy. Watch a sleepy man peer into the bathroom mirror to indicate a foggy day. The Personas theme gives you ten unique, animated personas as the weather and time of day changes.
If you are a designer looking for a way to showcase your work, send us your creative themes for Weatherwise™ by contacting us at support@weatherwiseapp.com.
This project was a total team effort. I want to extend special thanks to the following people (in no particular order):
• Tim Jaeger (Tech Lead)
• RJay Haluko (Creative Director/Designer/Illustrator)
• Chris Smith (Programmer)
• Patrick Pierson (Programmer)
• Ryan Bailey (Programmer)
• Michael Alfaro (Infrastructure)
• Tracy Severino (Public Relations/Content Writing)
• Melissa Penta (Web Developer)
• Pinaki Kathiari (Marketing)
• Derrick Larane (Moral Support/Social Sharing)
• Eric Williamson (SEO)
You’ll quickly learn that if you use background images in powerpoint, when you go to print to PDF, the background image gets a white border around it. It took me a while to figure out how to get the PPTX to properly display the background, so I thought I’d share it.
Step 1: Your preview will look like this:
Step 2: Go into the PDF printer properties and set the “Adobe PDF Page Size” to “Slide 7.5 x 10″ as shown here:
Step 3: Your preview will now look correct as such:
