Tips, Tricks & Hints
Every good designer and web developer has a few tricks up their sleeve. For that matter, so does every good writer, project manager, UI architect and…well, you get the point. All of us here have been doing what we do for a while, and we’ve learned lots along the way.
Rather than keep it all to ourselves, we want to share it with you. We figure we’re not the only ones who have to tackle photoshop or any of the other tools we use during the day, so if you read something here that saves you time down the road then we’re happy.
Check out the posts below. And if you’ve got a better solution than what we know, drop us a neighborly comment so we can all share in your skills. That’s what it’s all about.
NewCity Suggests:
Email Marketing Best Practices
USER BEHAVIOR
- AFFINITY for the brand and INTEREST in the subject are the two most important factors in email participation.
- Users spend an average of 51 seconds reading a newsletter.
- 69% look forward to receiving at least one of their newsletters.
- Users read content as a form of personal address—anything you write should be…
Search Optimization and Marketing
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an essential part of the development and marketing of a website. There are six main areas of SEO to focus on in order to have a successful campaign.
- Keywords
- Organic Optimization
- Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Marketing
- Link Building
- Marketing Optimization
- Analytics and Reporting
Below are some recommendations for each area that NewCity uses to drive Search Engine Marketing.
Photoshop Tip: Kuler and CS4
I use Kuler all the time to explore color themes for comps and in developing branded colors for clients. Getting those colors into Photoshop or Flash has always been a clunky export then import kind of process. Come to find out that Kuler has a direct extension window within these CS4 applications. Kind of makes sense, but a lot of designers overlook it or simply don't know its there and it can be extremely helpful.
Helpful Photoshop Layer Organization
How to use a simple system for Photoshop layer structure to allow one to quickly find an item buried in the layers. This will not only increase the speed of your design, but allows others to access and edit in your absence.
Adobe Illustrator Math Bug
One great thing in Adobe Illustrator is the ability to duplicate and move an object - then repeat that action as many times as you need. This is a handy tip, but also a "be aware of a problem".
I love a lot of Adobe products, Photoshop and Illustrator are cutting-edge software that no Designer can do without. However, there is a bug in…
Workshop: “Beyond Blah Blah” at EdUI
David Poteet will be teaching the full-day version of Beyond Blah Blah: Creating Great Content for the Web at EdUI on September 21st. In this workshop we take lessons we've learned and the best tips from our favorite experts to teach you how to:
- Figure out what content people want in the first place. Learn how to use Mental Models, KJ sessions, Carewords surveys, search logs and more to uncover top audience goals, then organize and prioritize your content.
- Use words that smell like goals – an…
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