I realize that it has nothing to do with website design directly, but still I found it inspirational. Makes me want to finally break open my piggy bank and buy an iPhone!

In this screencast, you’ll learn the steps I took to make that fake tag. Since the screencast is small and a little hard to see, I’ve included the larger, final image.

Click the “More…” link below to see the screencast:

Which reminds me of a Photoshop joke…

Person A:
How do you know when a newbie has been using Photoshop?
Person B:
From the scissors scratches on the monitor when he tried to cut the image.
You:
Uncontrolled laughter.

All dumb jokes aside, in this second screencast I’ll take you through some of those unseen Photoshop keyboard shortcuts as well as the nifty little cut, copy, and paste tricks I was using. (You can put the scissors down now. )

Click on the “More…” link below to watch Screencast #2:

Just to let you know, this is “Reality Screencasting” — which means it is completely unscripted. You’ll see my little mistakes, my periodic goofs, and hear the word “Ummm…” at least a thousand times. I did this for two reasons: 1) to let you see the real work flow when using Photoshop, and 2) I’m just too lazy to do multiple takes and then edit them together.

You won’t see any award-winning graphic designs in this screencast (I’ll save those for later) but you will learn exactly what you need to get started using Photoshop.

Without further ado, here it is!

As you watch the video, you’ll easily see the what not to do parts. If you’re not quite sure which is which, here’s a hint: the ‘before’ versions of the designs are better than the ‘after’ versions.

View the video here: Make My Logo BIGGER Cream!

What can we learn about design from this video?

Bigger isn’t better

Your company logo isn’t as important as the message your design is trying to tell. This is especially true for little-known companies. Of course, if you’re Nike (the “swoosh”), MacDonald’s (the “golden arches”), or Apple (an “apple”), then your logo already speaks volumes.

White space is good

White space is the empty space in a design. Proper placement of white space can make a design look cleaner, make it easier to read, and even force the reader’s eyes exactly where you want them to go.

Large “sparkles” can annoy

The only thing that large, obnoxious “sparkles” do to a design is create a dated image. Yes, long ago these were used almost everywhere. But nowadays they actually lessen the image of your company or your product (unless that’s what you’re shooting for.)

Neon – OUCH!

Do I really need to say anything about the awful neon colors? No? Good.

Too many images spoils the design

Maybe you’ve seen it, I know I have: print ads or websites that use too many over-sized images. The most effective designs only have one large or medium-sized image. Any other images or graphics are much smaller and kept to a minimum. (The website I discussed in the Boxes – the building blocks of websites is a good example of how to use images.)

Three years later I’m still thanking my lucky stars that I bought her e-book. And to this day I still follow all of her new materials as well. Her e-book, more than almost any other, is responsible for my current online success.

While viewing some of her YouTube videos today I came across one that rang true for me. You see, there are many scam artists out there on the World Wide Web that use Photoshop to fake the “proof of earnings” images you see on their websites. Maybe they actually only earn $100 a month. But with a little bit of editing they can make it look like they earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. (Sneaky little cheaters!)

The video made by Rosalind Gardner is an actual, real-time tour through some of her accounts. You can see her earnings in their complete, unedited glory. What is even more impressive is that this video was made a few years ago… so one can only imagine what she is making now through Internet marketing.

Here’s that video for your enjoyment:

In this next video, you can see a good example of just how easy it is to become an affiliate:

PS If you’re interested, you can find her e-book here:
The Super Affiliate Handbook

But, as a member of quite a few forums, I can tell you that all is not roses and rainbows. There are “trolls”, “spammers”, and of course the normal set of weirdos, deviants, and an occasional pervert or two.

To help out, I decided to share this fantastic video I stumbled upon on how to behave on an Internet forum. (I found it one day while actually participating in one of my favorite Internet forums )

Go ahead and click the little ‘play’ button in the lower left-hand corner of the video window to view!