The QR code Revolution

What is a QR Code?
A QR or Quick Response Code is a type of barcode that can read and decoded at high speeds.  It was originally created by Toyota in the 90's to track vehicles during the manufacturing process.  The types of QR codes vary from very simple to quite complex depending on the content.

What are the benefits to using QR codes?

• Well usually the first thing on someones mind when it comes to marketing or new technology is how much does it cost?  That is the beauty of using this technology, its absolutely FREE!
• Using this on advertising media is a great way to interact with your clients and drive traffic to your website or business (business cards, coupons, products, websites, advertisements etc.)
• The type of content you can store in your QR code can vary from something as simple as a website to something complex like a V-Card that stores Contact information that can be saved on a phone in an instant so you wont have to create a new contact and type in all the information.  

A few things I use QR Codes for is Business Cards and Websites.  I create a two sided Business Card with the usual information on the front and QR code on the back.  If you are interested in getting Custom Business Cards made with QR codes and all visit www.Bri-Idea.com.  Printing is Coming Soon!

What do I use to Scan a QR code?
The most common way to scan a QR code is to use an iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, iPad, Android tablet or iTouch device.  There are many applications that offer this technology for free and they work great!  Once you have your app you just point and focus the QR code usually in a box and you should be good to go.  

Other Examples of QR code usage:

QR codes for Free Book Downloads

QR code for Art Gallery Artwork Descriptions and  Information

Window Decals

Real Estate Listings

How to Create an Angel in Photoshop Tutorial and Walkthrough

This is the final result of our Work :)

!KEEP ALL LAYERS SEPARATE AS EACH LAYER EFFECTS WILL VARY!
If you Enjoy this Tutorial Please leave a comment and share this with others!
Create an Angel in Photoshop Link 

Start Here

I used this image I found while browsing Google images for the keyword jump.  Click here for the Image

Open the image in Photoshop and keep the image size the same for now.  

Step 1. Begin using the Magnetic Lasso tool to outline the jumper.  It doesn't have to be perfect, but try not to chop off any limbs, fingers or toes!

Step 2. Once Selected Copy and Paste the Jumper in a new layer and try to clean up the edges to the best of your ability.

Step 3.  You will notice that it would take a lot of patience to remove all the blue from the hair and remaining areas around his body.  So we are going to go to the top menu to SELECT then COLOR RANGE.

Step 4.  Use the color picker to select the blue color range between the hair.  You will notice in the black color range box that there are little specks of white.  This white is the blue that you selected in the image.

Step 5. Once you Select OK you will notice that all the remaining blue is now selected.  Hit the Delete Key and Your image will appear clean and cut!

Step 6.  Increase the Canvas Size of the Image by 10 inches, this way the wings will not get cut off when we add them.

Step 7. Lets Refine the edge a bit using these settings found under SELECT and REFINE EDGE.  Feather 2px and shift edge +40% hit OK and then Press Delete.  Voila!

Wings!

OK so we have our diver jumper man all cut out and cleaned up, now comes the fun part!  Lets get the wings set up.  I got the wings from searching wing or wings in Google images. 

Step 1.  Use the Magic Selection tool to remove the white background.  Then copy the layer to your Jumper file.

Step 2.   Scale the wing to fit like the image above.  I also trimmed a bit of the wing with the eraser tool.  That is wing number 1.  Now we need to duplicate this layer to make the 2nd wing.

Step 3. So now that we have the second wing we need to give the wing the appearance of it coming at you.  So select Edit , Transform and Distort to play with the wings perspective.  

This is what the second Wing should look like after playing with Distort and Perspective Tools

Leather Skirt
So now we have a Pretty cool looking angel in a bathing suit...  Lets try and fix this and add something a bit more medieval? or Angel like rather than a wet bathing suit.  Here is a Link to a Leather Skirt I found online through Google images

Step 1. Do your best to Remove all of the background from the skirt.  Then move the layer into your Diver/Jumper file

Step 2. Scale the Skirt by lining up the waist area appropriately

Step 3. Play with the perspective and use the warp tool to wrap around the waist area of the figure.

You'll notice the bathing suit is still showing through the skirt so use the clone tool and eraser to extend the leg all the way up and use the burn tool to add shadow.

Is your back sore from sitting at a desk all day?

Sore Back?

Sitting at a desk job all day is horrendous for your back.  I know from personal experience.  Doing computer work for the past 5 years has been tough on my body.  There are a few tricks to relieving some of the pain that accompanies sitting for so long.  

PROBLEM = Your Chair - This is where it all goes down.  Breakfast, Work, Lunch, Work, and sometimes Dinner and so on.  The hours are getting longer and in this economy who has time to stop working right? Well your back will stop working before you actually do.  You could have the most expensive chair in the world and it won't stop you from slouching.  This is a problem because the more you slouch forward the more it can cause your disc to bulge out to one side.  Looks terrible does it not?

SOLUTION = Stability Ball - First let me say that I know this sounds and looks ridiculous.  But you know what?  I am the one with no more lower back pain and I know from experience that your willing to try anything just to get rid of that constant pain.  I have been sitting on a Stability Ball for the past few years and my posture has improved 100% along with my back pain.   

Important factors to keep in mind: 

1. Make sure the size of the ball is a perfect fit for your desk!  
2. Make sure you are not to low as to have your arms at shoulder level
3. Make sure you are not to high to have to lean forward and slouch
4. Make sure you get a stability ball! not a chair with a stability ball cushion!  The whole idea is stabilizing yourself using your core and a chair clearly defeats this purpose. 
5. If you need to move closer to the desk, teach yourself to roll forward on the ball keeping your back in an upright position.
6. Periodically stretch using your ball.

Extra Tips:

• Stay hydrated!  Think of water as lubrication for your joints and muscles.  In order to keep them from being to brittle you have to stay hydrated
• Eat right!  Specific foods have inflammatory and anti-inflammatory properties and guess what fried foods will cause inflammation and add to your back pain while greens such as salad and veggies will help counter inflammation.
• Supplements (fish oil, glucosamine, chondroitin) are always good but check with a physician before ingesting any over the counter products

www.Bri-idea.com

Worst Active Domain Names Ever...

Worst Active Domain Names Ever...

Please Forgive any inappropriate innuendo in some of these names.  If you are easily offended than please move on otherwise have a laugh!

budget.co.ck - Cook Islands - TLD is .ck and they use .co for commercial domains


webone.com - software development company


oddsextractor.com - software for bet fair


mammotherection.com - scaffolding erection company


penisland.net - pen manufacturer


speedofart.com - no idea, name is not half as bad as the website


hollandshitfestival.nl  - some dutch festival

therapistfinder.com - California counseling 

swissbit.ch  - Memory/Flash storage developer TLD is .ck for Switzerland
 
whorepresents.com -  Some sort of celebrity representation directory

rocketitsupport.com - IT support company

choosespain.com - Tourist site for Spain

dickslumber.com - It's not asleep, its lumber

childrenswear.co.uk  - Fancy children's clothing

lesbocages.com - horticulturist in France

actionpaintballsac.com  - Paintball Sacramento

nycanal.com  - NY Canal

effoff.com  - effective office env.

ilovebigals.com  - big als bowling

theoneillbuilding.com - a healthy building in NYC

I hope my website doesn't have any hidden words.  www.Bri-Idea.com

Keeping your Site Crisp and Clean

 This is a simple lesson for everyone who updates their own website or blog. 

I place before you two images.  One with good resolution and one with bad resolution.  

Notice the difference?  The Good image is a relatively medium resolution at around 500 pixels by 500 pixels.  The Bad image is a 100 pixel by 100 pixel images that was enlarged to 500 by 500 pixels.  

A pixel is a single point (square) in an image: See Below

So a photograph depending on the resolution can be made up of 100 x 100 pixels or 2000 x 2000 pixels and so on.

The lower the resolution (100x100) the more pixelated (or grainy) the image becomes.  The Higher the resolution ( 2000 x 2000) the sharper the image becomes.

It's More common than you think

Using low resolution images is a common mistake that a lot of people, even web developers make and is quite painful to see.  This is a huge turn off if I am visiting a website.  It implies that an amateur created or maintains the site and should not be taken seriously.  As silly as it sounds it makes a big difference to your visitors.  If you have a hard time finding an image go to a stock photography site and purchase a few high res images.  We now live in a HD (high definition) era and most people expect their internet browsing experience to look great on their 24 inch expensive monitor.  

Enhance the Image!!!

You ever watch CSI when they need to enhance the image to catch the bad guy?  Kind of like this

You cannot take a picture with your 2 mega pixel camera phone and expect to use it effectively on your website.  There is no such thing as enhance, enhance, enhance, enhance.  Taking the time to check image resolution or change image resolution is well worth it and could improve your sites overall bounce (leave the site) rate.  


Check out my Site www.Bri-Idea.com for news, design tips and more...

iOS app store down: workaround

iOS app store search function is currently down. Work around it by google searching the app you are looking for (ex. Twitter iTunes) . The URL will open up to the apps page where you will be able to download the app with no trouble at all!

Why your site and logo matters to your business

 Here is an interesting statistic : 80% of people visit a website before visiting a store or shop.


This means that your website and logo is your first impression that you get to make to a potential client and the world.  If your website/logo was designed by an amateur then guess what?  It is going to give the impression that your business is run by a bunch of amateurs.  It is important not to let the face of your business fall to the wayside.

Keeping up to date on technology and social media is also an important factor.  A good portion of web traffic now comes from mobile devices, so you have to ask yourself - Does my site look and operate well on a mobile device?  If not you could be losing vital business.

Check out www.Bri-idea.com and take a look at our portfolio for inspiration on how to improve your site/logo.