Joyful Pear Design

Fixing up Photos

29/10/2019

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It's now easy to quickly fix and improve your photos with Free online software and Apps

Make your photos look great for your website, Blog, or Social Media.
Adjust your photos so they'll print beautifully for display, marketing, or gifts.
Make beautiful photos to sell online or as prints.
Or get creative with photos, text, & images and make your own digital designs to print or put online.

PROFESSIONAL PHOTO EDITING

To make photos look their best most photographers & designers usually do some or all of the following:

Straighten the photo
Adjust the light, dark and mid tones
Adjust the colours
Crop off unwanted areas
Remove marks, scratches, or objects
Sharpen or Blur areas of the photo

SAVE AND USE PHOTOS

The next step is all about clever saving:

Save, name, and File the photo
Resize the photo for different uses
Save the photo as different useful formats

SOME EXAMPLES

Here's some everyday examples of before and after photo editing...

Before 1

After 1

Before 2

After 2

Before 3

After 3

SOME HANDY ONLINE WEBSITES

pixlr.com
www.photopos.com
www.befunky.com
www.picmonkey.com

www.gimp.org
www.getpaint.net
www.fotor.com
Adobe Photoshop Express

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_file_formats

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CREATE A BUSINESS CARD

Business cards are easy and fun to make and can be used for all sorts of things. Print a business card as a mini portfolio, a quirky invite, a list of all your contact details for family & friends, or as part of your business marketing.

MAKE YOUR OWN BUSINESS CARDS

Collect a photo or two and/or your logo
Decide on some text and/or your contact details
Design your card online using Apps or a Printer website
Order your card to be printed and posted to you, or print it on your own printer
Hand around your cards...

The most difficult part of a business card is deciding on a design. Luckily many online resources have lots of beautiful and professional designs that can help get you started. Use galleries for inspiration or use a template and adjust it with your own images and details.

JPD BUSINESS CARD DESIGN TIPS

Choose a type style / font that is easy to read when small
Have a relevant image on one side
Choose 1-3 colours – appropriate to topic or audience
Print out a copy of your design before ordering prints – to check it works as expected

SOME HANDY ONLINE WEBPAGES

www.carddsgn.com
cardview.net
www.cardnerd.com
cardobserver.com
www.moo.com

www.vistaprint.co.nz
www.wsprint.co.nz
www.zazzle.co.nz
www.canva.com
www.gotprint.com

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Create a Blog

14/10/2019

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ENJOY BLOGGING!

Blogs are fun to read and explore, and now they are easy to create! Make a blog design in a few hours with easy-to-use online blog builders. Create a FREE Blog and start sharing what-ever interests you. Or use a Blog to share your business ideas with clients and aid your website SEO.

MAKE A BLOG IN 6 EASY STEPS

Visit a Blog Builder website (there are many, some below)
Choose a design or template
Adjust the design / template to suit you
Add some info about you and how visitors can contact you
Write a Post. Add images or video...
Publish your Blog to the internet so everyone can read it!

SOME THINGS TO PUT ON YOUR BLOG

Your story
Inspirational articles
Advice: Hints and Tips
Photos and Videos
Reviews
Step-by-step
A beginner's guide to...
Lists – Benefits of... Things to avoid... Top 10...
Create an Instructional graphic, flyer, or video
Info about online resources, information
Client testimonials or case studies
Behind-the-scenes
Ask visitors what they'd like...

SOME PLACES TO MAKE A BLOG

www.blogger.com
www.jimdo.com
www.wix.com
wordpress.com

www.weebly.com
sett.com
www.webs.com
medium.com

Images at top: two sample Blogs online at heleneinbetween.com and bountifuldeparture.blogspot.com

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DIY Marketing

30/7/2017

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You can do DIY Marketing!

A small business on a tight budget can save a lot of money doing all their own marketing. Sole traders can combine managing their marketing with networking. Increase your business profits by managing your own marketing, or combine hiring professionals for the tricky bits and doing the rest yourself.

“You don't need a corporation or a marketing company to brand you now: you can do it yourself” ― Ray Allen

MANY DIY OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE

FREE online apps and resources can help you quickly and easily make your own publicity images, text, and other content.
Online shops and services can help you create and print advertising, stationery, and promotional items.
FREE Social media sites and many other online places can help you connect with customers.
Website builders can help you to easily create your own Website, online shop, or Blog – with FREE options available.
Business focused websites can help you create a FREE newsletter, surveys or forms for clients, and many other useful small business items.
There are also many many wonderful websites available online that can help you with every step of the process. Topics like how to create branding, copyright, what to write, what to put on Social Media, or your Blog, etc etc.

All it takes to make the most of the available opportunities is a little time to upskill, and a willingness to explore what may work for you and your customers.

“Marketing is really just about sharing your passion.”
―Michael Hyatt

MY TOP 7 DIY MARKETING TIPS

Start Slow with What You Know: gradually build your knowledge & skills
Have Consistent Branding: keep it similar across all media
Utilise FREE Online resources: Check out the latest apps that can help you and/or your clients
Utilise FREE Social media: go where-ever is appropriate for your clients
Have a Website, Blog, & business email – FREE options available
Check with Customers: check what clients enjoy or want – check statistics, try different marketing options, try out content marketing...
Make a Newsletter, PDF Booklets, eBooks, Video, Podcast, Postcards, Business Cards, Posters or anything else your clients may enjoy.
Try it out! Give things a go & see if they work for you & your clients.

“Don’t be afraid to get creative & experiment with your marketing.” ―Mike Volpe

SOME HANDY WEBSITES

www.canva.com
pixabay.com
www.freepik.com
www.dropbox.com

www.vistaprint.co.nz
mailchimp.com
www.techradar.com
www.openoffice.org

“Make your marketing so useful people would pay you for it.” ― Jay Baer

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eBooks – make your own books!

20/7/2017

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eBooks Rock!

I'm passionate about eBooks. I started my career in magazines/books just before computers took over and completely changed the publishing industry. In the magazine house we designed by hand with little strips of text, tape lines and black & white images pasted down onto impositions. These were later converted into film, plates, and printed on a Press at the printers. I loved all of it!

“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”
― Toni Morrison

Now anyone can make a book on their own computer with a wide range of software or Apps. These digital books or eBooks can then be printed, or distributed via email or to eReaders (like Amazon's Kindle). And it's all easy and accessible – it can even be done for free.

“It’s not too late to write your best story.”
― Bryan Hutchinson

There's loads of options and scope for creativity and networking with others. Including: just write the text, or design a cover and images, make a designed PDF booklet, make a simple Amazon novel, create a promotional booklet and offer it on your website, or make an interactive booklet (where you can hear the pages turning!)

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”
― Anaïs Nin

To me the most exciting part is that you can self publish your eBook then get an ISBN and have your book in the National Library of New Zealand - all for free, and what fun!

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Backup! Backup! Backup!

19/7/2017

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Backups are essential!

It's so easy to forget to backup or to forget to update your backup plan when the technology changes. Suddenly something happens and you realise you've lost things you'd really rather not have lost...

“Always have a Backup Plan”
― Mila Kunis

Three times in the last 12 years I've been surprised by an unresponsive computer. The first time was back when I was still downloading emails to my actual computer - I lost all of them. Contact addresses, attached photos, important letters... I also lost photos, software, documents. All the bits I hadn't recently backed up to my portable hard-drive. Some folks got a bit pissed off with me and I was pretty upset with myself – as a graphic designer, and computing tutor working with computers for years, it really shouldn't have happened to me. But it did, and there was no 'undo' button!

“The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do.”
― Ted Nelson

The most recent time it happened to me was last year. My computer had issues and I had to do a reset – losing recent work, fonts, and software (and lots of time). I was upset, but I didn't lose as much as I could have because I'd been following my Backup Plan. This time my email was all online – so no great loss. My photos and most work was backed up on 3 portable hard-drives and some was stored in the cloud and with friends & family.

“Make a game plan and stick to it unless its not working.”
― Yogi Berra

My new Backup Plan involves making sure all the files I want to keep for the next 20, 50, or 100 years are accessible by modern technology. Tricky considering how fast technology is developing, but still achievable!
Have you done a backup recently? Or checked your Backups still work?
Stay safe out there people...

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Websites

16/7/2017

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You Can Have Your Own Website!

I love having my own websites. They're fun to create and an easy way to contact folks all over the world. It's an enjoyable puzzle to work out what to put on a new website. The images, text, links, videos, the fonts, layouts, and colours, the design look and feel... It's a bit like making a painting or sculpture, with the same joy of expressing ideas with a new creation.

“Digital design is like painting, except the paint never dries.” - Neville Brody

Then there is the technical challenge. Puzzling out how to make sure the website works technically – the buttons go to the right places on the internet, the forms work, the images are the right size, the website looks good on computers, phones, and tablets, Mac and PC, different browsers etc, etc... This all helps keep my brain youthful and active and is like the giant jigsaw puzzles I used to do on my parents dining table when I was a kid.

“Websites promote you 24/7” - Paul Cookson

I love visiting websites and particularly enjoy websites that function well – that are easy to use, have plenty of links and options for me to choose from, and that are easy to read and navigate. I like to make sure my websites function well too, although I tend to end up spending so much time enjoying other people's websites I run out of time to tend to my own! Ooops! I better stop chatting now and do some updating...

Here is an example of an old free website I set up back in 2012 that needs some updating... but it still functions, so one day, when I find the time, it'll be updated.
It's had no marketing what-so-ever, but it does what I wanted it to, and I get regular contact from visitors all over the world (natural SEO).

OLD FREE WEBSITE

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Beginning Things

12/7/2017

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“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
― John Wooden

There are so many exciting possibilities on the internet – making your own website, publishing your own eBook, connecting with people on Social Media, making your own marketing items, creating digital art... Some things can seem too tricky or the learning process can seem to steep. But I recommend to just jump on in and get started - begin at the beginning, and do a bit at a time until you get the hang of it.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
― Lao Tzu

The key is to be kind to yourself and give yourself time to learn. Use whatever learning techniques work for you, and begin sharing your project even if it's not completely finished to the level you would like - start small and slowly build on what you can do. I learnt from an elderly client to just do things to a 'good enough' stage then tweak them later, as needed.

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”
― John Anster

There are loads of options to help folks learn these days - a local short course, library books, online courses, YouTube, Pinterest, or just some plain internet research. I know I learn best from reading and watching things - no point me listening to something because it really does go in one ear and out the other!

Good luck starting your new project! :-)

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PROFESSIONAL PHOTO EDITING

SAVE AND USE PHOTOS

SOME EXAMPLES

SOME HANDY ONLINE WEBSITES

CREATE A BUSINESS CARD

MAKE YOUR OWN BUSINESS CARDS

JPD BUSINESS CARD DESIGN TIPS

SOME HANDY ONLINE WEBPAGES

ENJOY BLOGGING!

MAKE A BLOG IN 6 EASY STEPS

SOME THINGS TO PUT ON YOUR BLOG

SOME PLACES TO MAKE A BLOG

You can do DIY Marketing!

“You don't need a corporation or a marketing company to brand you now: you can do it yourself” ― Ray Allen

MANY DIY OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE

“Marketing is really just about sharing your passion.”―Michael Hyatt

MY TOP 7 DIY MARKETING TIPS

“Don’t be afraid to get creative & experiment with your marketing.” ―Mike Volpe

SOME HANDY WEBSITES

“Make your marketing so useful people would pay you for it.” ― Jay Baer

eBooks Rock!

“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” ― Toni Morrison

“It’s not too late to write your best story.”― Bryan Hutchinson

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”― Anaïs Nin

Backups are essential!

You Can Have Your Own Website!

“Digital design is like painting, except the paint never dries.” - Neville Brody

“Websites promote you 24/7” - Paul Cookson

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”― John Wooden

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”― Lao Tzu

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”― John Anster

Meet Shelley