Written on 22 February, 2008 by David Churchill
Design Ideas, Templates
Stuck for ideas? Feed up with the same old pictures and colours?
Why don’t you try something simple like a silhouette, or a black and white photo? Give it a tweak, maybe boost the Brightness and Contrast and then you will have something a little bit different.
How many colours do you need? Sticking to a single colour or similar colours can have a striking effect – and although there is a little bit of yellow in my example, you can see that using the same colour range can make for an interesting change.
Talking of changes – on the 23 Feb 2008 I will be kicking off a 7 day completion that has some great prizes, so make sure you pop back tomorrow to enter the leap-year special!
Download today’s Photoshop samples – Silhouette (96k) and Green Earth (132kb).
You can also download the Anderson Fireball X font which is used in the Silhouette sample. Other free fonts can be downloaded from the 125Cards download page.
Don’t have Photoshop? Would like a template in another format?
Leave me a comment and I will see what I can do.
Written on 15 February, 2008 by David Churchill
Design Ideas, Tutorial
Here is a quick step by step tutorial showing you how to make a very simple 125×125 style Advert or Entrecard using Photoshop.
It is not complicated, in fact it is only four simple steps, so you don’t need to be a Photoshop guru – you only need to know a few basics.
1) Nice and simple, open Photoshop and create a new document that is 125×125 pixels and 150 pixels/inch. Make sure the Colour Mode is RGB and the Background Contents is Transparent.
2) From the Tools Pallet, use the Round Rectangle Tool 
with a corner Radius of 8 to draw a box that fills the whole background. If you wish, you can change the box colour by double clicking on Layer Thumbnail.
Read the rest of this entry »
Written on 12 February, 2008 by David Churchill
Reviews, Templates
So far I have been including Sample Templates in Photoshop format, but I would obviously like to distribute free templates for other applications.
I can guess a few that would be popular, but the best way for me to know what you are using is to ask, so that is what I would like to do…
What Mac or PC software are you using to design your 125×125 Adverts, Cards and Banners? It can be Commercial, Shareware, Freeware or anything elseware!
Written on 12 February, 2008 by David Churchill
Design Ideas, Templates
If you rely on photographs as a background for your 125×125 Adverts, then it may be worth considering an alternative image every now and then, perhaps something that would match the seasons of the year.
Changing the image is a quick and easy way to keep your advert looking fresh and avoid it becoming overlooked. There is nothing worse than an advert becoming so familiar that it becomes invisible.
It is worth remembering though, just change the background image and not the style of your logo or branding as this could confuse potential customers, visitors and traffic.
Above is a quick example of seasonally themed adverts. They all use the same font for the main text at the top and there is ample space for a logo, branding or a web address at the bottom.
Download the Seasonal Samples (287kb Photoshop layered file) and the font Cookies, which is used for the text at the top of each advert.
Feedback Time
I’d be interested to know if you already use alternative images or styles throughout the year in your adverts, or even if you change the overall theme of your website.
Written on 7 February, 2008 by David Churchill
Design Ideas, Templates
Yep, you hear me right – lets talk about little fluffy kittens, cats, dogs, frogs, horses and oh the list goes on and on.
Now if you have a website that focuses on a particular animal related trade, say professional pet grooming secrets, then it would be safe to say you could, if you wished, use a picture of a cat or dog in your little 125×125 advert.
But if you had a site about computers or dare I say it, how to make money online, then a picture of a cat, dog, frog or even a horse is probably the last thing you would want to use?
Unfortunately there are hundreds if not thousands of such errors in judgement out there, and I really think it is about time we all grew out of the little fluffy kitten thing – it’s not professional and definitely not clever… in fact it has never ever been clever. I repeat, never!
Fonts! OK, if you really, really, what to use a picture of an animal, you will probably want to add a slogan or web address. Now bare in mind that the font you use needs to lend itself to the picture. Default Helvetica/Arial might work, but only if it was solid black or white, bold and perfectly aligned, possible with a little bit of horizontal tracking to make it really easy to read. But don’t just slap it on the image – think about composition and colour, and try a few different fonts and positions before deciding.
So to recap. If you want to use a picture of an animal, make sure you have a site that focuses on that animal, or even animals – but don’t talk about little fluffy kittens – please! Try a few different fonts, and stop and think about how it will look before slapping it together.
Download sample Cat and Dog Adverts (layered Photoshop file – 132kb).
Search for Free Fonts – there are hundreds, possible thousands out there.
