Here is an easy-peasy way to vignette a photo by darkening it's corners using a simple mask. For this tutorial, I'm using a photo of two of my friends--both MICA grads--who attended the 2012 MICA graduation carrying inspirational signs to encourage the new grads.
Open your image in photoshop. In the layers panel double-click the image to unlock it

…is More Important Than Ever.

My company is in the process of hiring a Copywriter / Editor to join our communications team. We posted the position a few weeks ago and we’ve gotten nearly 200 responses. Here’s a quick breakdown of what that means to a jobseeker in this market.

Of the 200 respondents:

• a large percentage of the applicants are based outside of this state, and a smaller, but significant number of these are based outside of the United states, 
• approximately 40 individuals meet the criteria outlined in the job posting, 
• about half of this qualified group can be classified as highly qualified, 
• fewer than 10 people will be contacted to interview. 

This is the trend that I outlined in my article Job Search Advice for New Grads. It’s now the norm.

My Communications Director was floored at the number of applications that this posting has yielded compared to years past. Not only are the applicants more diverse, so are their skill levels—there’s been an abnormally high number of recent college graduates who’ve applied. Recently, when discussing her selection process she commented that, “You can see the effects of the economy, now more than ever.”

When we posted a similar position a few years ago, the maximum number of resumes was around 40 and the highly qualified pool held 5 individuals. How do you ensure your application will yield an interview? Be prepared to compete with highly skilled individuals.

What is Simone working on this week, you ask. I have several projects that are winding down. In  no particular order: an event invitation, a direct mail solicitation, a poster of a great guy, a PhotoShop tutorial for you, and a jQuery online course. Here's part of the direct mail piece, I'm making the most of some fantastic stock images!

I have an inexplicable soft spot in my soul for circus peanuts; you know the orange, semi-soft, semi-hard candy that’s shaped like peanuts and tastes like a combination of red dye #5, yellow dye # 3, and sugar?


Whenever I see them in stores I’m instantly drawn. But I limit myself to gorging on a 2.99 bag of Circus Peanuts just once a year.

I think my love of this heinous confection is connected to childhood memories of the annual school trip to the Ringling Brothers circus.

In the years before 4th grade, my childishly innocent eye allowed me to believe in the unicorn. In these years,  the daring of the aerialists and acrobats kept me speechless until their performance concluded with a drop into the net and a graceful forward roll onto the safety of the arena floor. In these years a cheap, light-up spinny thing and a poster was all I needed as a souvenir; I’d look at the poster in my room later and be transported back to that 3-ring spectacle.

Eating Circus Peanuts now is like prying open a crack in the window of that little girl’s life to let a sliver of that  innocence shine through. It’s fleeting and it’s nostalgia. Too often—while I revel in that taste of the past-- my window works itself shut and I’m left with half a bag of some pretty terrible candy.

Sappi offers booklet/book samples for free to designers and students--they're samples!


Highly recommended:Folding and scoring book is a huge favorite!http://sappi.litorders.com/SelectInventoryList.aspx

I just took part in another heated discussion with a mixed group of recent grads and mid-career graphic designers.  A young woman in the group raised the question of salary range for an entry level graphic designer with a master's degree.


This question was asked the recent graduate:

"What kind of pay should I be expecting for a full-time entry level graphic design position with my master's and no prior career experience? I've gotten a couple offers that seem just way too low, but for the amount of experience I don't have I'm wondering if that's just what I should expect.... argh."

Here's my response and a few others... I applied for and was offered a job at a DC non-profit during my last semester of grad school. I had already had a few years of professional design experience, and this was not an entry-level job.

The highest salary they could stretch to was around  44K--I believed that was on the low end. So, I negotiated an extremely flexible schedule that allowed me to work from home three days, and I was able to take 1 full month off each winter (in addition to the regular vacation and sick days).

NEGOTIATE! If they're not willing to pay more, see if you can negotiate on the perks: more flex time, working offsite, more vacation days, or unpaid leave. I personally believe that 28K is a slap in the face. Two years of college cost more than that!!! Read a bit more about negotiating your salary after the offer, http://www.howdesign.com/design-career/salary/salarynegotiationtips/


Here's what other design professionals had to say:

B.G.: If it is a print only job the pay will be low and that will never change. Chances are you will never advance because the folks above you are content and not going anywhere. If you are in a hybrid role or designing for web and/or new media your pay will be better and your career path will be brighter. The degree doesn't matter, its your work and what you bring to the table that matters most. I think low 40s is a decent starting point. If you jump around for the first 2-3 years of your career you'll not only learn a lot more but you will make significantly more after those first few years. Worry about getting good experience first, the money will come if you work hard for it. I know all of this from experience.

J. G.: Good luck trying to figure this one out! I'm still unable to answer that. I've asked teachers, internship supervisors, employers, friends with design jobs, people on linked in and google. I always get a range and it goes from about $28K-$50K. The lower end being Baltimore jobs and jobs that focus more on print design and the higher end being jobs in DC or surrounding areas and jobs that focus more on digital design. I know that's not very helpful. The helpful part might be to stop trying to find just one answer and go with what works for you. Also, keep in mind, some jobs have great benefits with a lower salary but it could even out?
* I got my this particular job while in my last year of grad school. This was not an entry level position and I'd had a few years of professional experience when I applied for the job.


J.G.M.: 50-100 if you know Wordpress (basic php) and web development

Hope this helps,
Simone

I just participated in a heated discussion on the dreaded final interview question. This one is asked when you're sure that you and the interviewer have beaten the molecules back and forth for the last time. The art director takes a shallow breath, exhales, and then asks, "Do you have any questions for me?"

There are a few different ways you can respond to this one.

My answer:
I always ask the interviewer "So, how'd you end up working here?".... followed up with what are your most /least favorite aspects of your job. It's rare that this person is asked about her/his own personal experience, and this disarming question might elicit some useful insights about what you're in for when offered the job.

Here's how other design professionals answered this:

A. Scott
It's been a while since I interviewed and I always dreaded that question as well; I also ask questions throughout the interview. I tend to ask about the position. "Are you replacing someone or is it new?" "Are you looking to continue the pace of the position or go in another direction?" I always ask how long before a decision and what are the next steps.

B. Gillespie
The question doesn't have to come up. Think of the interview as a discussion where you ask question, they ask questions, and you just talk. But if you need some try these: Ask about culture and for specifics. I've found that the culture makes the job and that many companies can be delusional or misrepresent the culture. Avoid anything that is negotiable at that time, like vaca, benies and salary (once you get an offer, negotiate). Ask about typical work flow, the typical day, room for growth, ask about clients and how they handle them. Ask if you will work directly with clients or who you would work with on a daily basis. Ask to see work space. Ask about equipment and software. And always ask what plan they have for the person that filles the role you are interviewing for. Where do they see growth for that person and future opportunities. This is a great one to start a discussion.

M. Lewis
I tend to ask questions about the company culture, the team dynamics, etc. ("What is the atmosphere here like?" "Is there a lot of collaboration between the designers and the other departments?" "What is the best part about working here?"). That way, you don't just end with "I can't think of anything," you can't be construed as trying to get out of work (asking about leave and hours), and it shows that you are interested in being a part of their team and organization. Whatever they respond, you can say, "That sounds really great. I've been looking for a place that's like that."

D. Peterson
You can ask about work/life balance; ask about the company's culture; or if and how they support professional development.

A. Russell
I usually say something like "I'm very excited about the opportunity and it sounds like a great fit for me, however, I am looking for a company in which I can grow for the long run. When the time comes, do you generally promote from within? And are there opportunities for advancement among employees who have been here for a long time?"

I got a printed scan of our signature on my desk this morning. This sheet of paper looked terrible, but it was all I had so I needed to make it work. Here’s the quick and dirty on how to make salvage a low quality printed signature for digital use.

1. Rescan the image and set the output to TIFF or other image file type. Be sure to select the highest resolution setting. This will yield a lot of artifacts on the image but you can remove them pretty easily. 
2. Open the file in Photoshop, and crop it; removing all excess white space around your work area.
3. Go to the layers panel and create a new layer filled with white. Move this layer below your working layer and reselect the top layer. 

 Now, let’s get to work! 
First: Increase contrast. Go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast. With Preview on, move the brightness slider down to around -150 and increase contrast to 100. You may need to repeat this once more before you continue. Eyeball it, then hit OK.

 

Next: Zoom in on a section of the signature—I chose 200% for this one—and select the Lasso tool. Then: Start with a small area, and select stray pixel artifacts surrounding the main letterforms.


Hold down Command + X (Mac) or Ctrl + X(Windows) to remove the pixels.





Repeat. Make sure that you zoom out to 100% every-so-often to be sure the right pixels have been removed.


 Final Clean up

1. Merge down layers. In the Layers panel select your top layer and select merge down from the dropdown.
2. Increase contrast. Go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast. With Preview on, move the brightness slider down to -150 and increase contrast to 100. Do this only once! . Then hit OK.
3. Save it. Select File > Save As>

Visitors to online travel site Orbitz.com are fed higher hotel rates based on the operating system (OS) they use. Mac/Apple users are reported to spend around $30 more on travel and accommodations than Windows users, so Orbitz chooses to capitalize. Their practice is to show more expensive options--boutique hotels, as opposed to more economic options--when users search from the Apple OS.

Read the full article at www.online.wjs.com

Maybe you’ve heard that a tailored resume is one of the best ways to grab a hiring manager’s attention.

• Your uploaded resume is run through a parser, which removes the styling from the resume and breaks the text down into recognized words or phrases.
• The parser then sorts that content into different categories: 
• education, 
• contact info, 
• skills, and 
• work experience, etc.
• The employer's desired skills or keywords are matched against the results from above.
• Your resume is then scored on relevancy—using semantic matching against the employer's search terms and your years of experience.

I was interviewed in May and decided to post a link to the article...the take away is my advice to budding graphic designers: 

1. Study art, and 
2. Never stop learning

In an interview on the Designing Sistas portion of The Homebound Love Project on WPEB 88.1 FM in West Philadelphia, artist and graphic designer Simone Jenifer discuss her education, background and life in the arts and graphic design and what other young African American women can do to begin to become future image makers......read the full article