You'll notice in the image below that we are zooming in on the words 'Visual Image Advertising' and there are the noticeably bolder letters 'l' and 'i' in the words. As we zoom in, that disparity disappears quicker than my stapler. (Seriously guys, I want it back.)



For the past five years I've been explaining to our AE's that this is just an acrobat issue, and there is no way for me to export the file any differently that can make that annoying bold l's & i's go away. You can imagine my excitement when I discovered a setting that can just make that stop. I felt like Marco Polo. Vasco da Gama. Columbus, even! I had discovered a new world. A world without enhanced thin lines.

In your top bar, go: Acrobat (or Reader) > Preferences > Page Display > Click 'Enhance thin lines' to turn it off > BAM! Sanity restored!!!



Notice the difference!



From here on out, typography and design elements should appear as the designer intended them to. Novel idea, right?

I married into a family of huge hockey fans. They held season tickets to the Blazers games for more than 10 years, having anywhere from 10 to 14 seats each year, some of them on the glass. And of course, they all had matching Blazers jerseys with their names on the back. Coach Sauter even knew the family and where they sat. Needless to say they were entrenched into Blazers hockey and the Blazers were a big part of my nieces and nephews childhoods.

As an organization, I would like to believe that season ticket holders like this would be considered prized gems. However to my utmost surprise, the Blazers didn’t seem to care at all when they started loosing these season ticket holders.  My husband specifically received one phone call about his renewal for the next year and the lady didn’t even ask why when he said we wouldn’t renew this year. No one addressed the issues that led to the non-renewal or asked what can we do to make it right.  What happened to customer service? What happened to building a relationship with your customers?

The Blazers, and now the Barons, really should take some lessons from the Houston Aeros hockey team’s book. A friend of ours visited Houston for vacation one year and took in a game while he was there. When the sales lady found out he was from Oklahoma visiting she immediately threw in free parking and a couple kids packs with their tickets at no additional cost. A positive experience, right? Well it gets better, around the same time the following year the Houston Aeros team called my friend up, asked if he would be visiting the area again and would he like to come to a game? They referenced the package that was purchased the previous year and even still had his credit card on file for easy payment.  If this is how they treat a one time customer from another state, how do you think they treat their season ticket holders?

Back to OKC now and the Barons, surely they have access to all the Blazers customer information and season ticket holders records. I mean they have the same owners, right. But, no one has called or mailed anything to the Blazers season ticket holders? I know for a fact that a couple phone calls and a little schmoozing – some good ol’ fashion customer service — would get the Barons another 10 season tickets sold.  It might surprise you what a little time and friendly attitude could do for your bottom line...

Looking for a new rig to handle your creative? Consider this:

Sleek-sexy-smooth, or face-melting raw power? Latte, or espresso? M-16 or AK-47? iMac or Mac Pro?

A few years back iMacs were really only good for web browsing, email, and media storage. A lot has changed in a few years. The iMac is still a beautiful piece of hardware. It's a big screen with brains, and looks as good as it performs. But now that you can get them with the i7 processor and up to 16GB of RAM, not to mention the display screen that makes me want to put on sun block... Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm! These things are a serious competitor to the Mac Pro for the hearts and minds of most Creatives and Designers.  

Have no fear pumping Adobe Photoshop or other similar programs through it's circuits. With the new i7 processors and stock 4GB RAM, the iMac easily handles most tasks without a hitch. It can also handle a moderate amount of basic video editing and animation. For the big stuff though, you'll need the Mac Pro.

A completely pimped out iMac will run you around $4200, with the 27" base model costing $1700.

The MacPro (or Franken-Mac as I like to call them) are truly awesome machines. You can get these things with up to 32GB of RAM!  That makes me laugh... I rarely come close to using the 8 gigs in mine, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate big numbers. With the Mac Pro you get many more choices for drives and other upgrade options, so the platform is more flexible.

These machines are best suited as a dedicated media editing system, or a robust design rig. Having the ability to switch between Photoshop, Illustrator, AfterEffects, and Premier Pro on the fly, without issue is a magical feat. They are capable of handling just about any creative program on the market. Just be prepared to to shell out the $$$. Oh, and you have to purchase the display separately.

A totally tricked out Mac Pro runs a whopping $17,318, with the base model Quad-core starting at $2500.

Here is a quick rundown of the pros and cons for both:

iMac
+Fits the needs of most Creatives and Designers
+Low power consumption.
+Value
-Not optimum for editing video
-Won't make you breakfast

Mac Pro
+Extremely flexible platform
+As fast and powerful as you want (or can afford) to make it
+longer life-cycle
-no monitor included
-Won't make you breakfast either

In our newfangled, face-bookie, tweet-tweet-tweet, email driven, digitally fueled world there are times when I crawl inside my computer and stay for the day. Imagination on-hold, ideas on the brink, much of my to-do list gets placed in the "tonight" file. But that's how business works these days. Staying one step ahead means doing your homework. My time online is spent productively. Just ask my daughter. Several years ago, when she was nearly knee-high, my wife asked her to describe what daddy does at work. Her insightful response: "He sits at his desk and stares at his computer all day". Busted.

Actually, I'm following a trail of genetically-coded bread crumbs - I'm hunting and gathering. I'm finding information that will serve my clients needs, give them a newfound advantage. This ritual jolts the neurons in my brain awake like a pair of fully-charged CPR paddles. Strategy starts to come into focus, ideas start to percolate. They usually brew until 2 in the morning - which is precisely why I keep my laptop close to my bedside. Thanks, Mick Jagger! (A.D.D. sidebar: apparently Mick woke up in the dead of night to pen "Ruby Tuesday"). Honestly, what’s not to love about the interwebs? I just wish there were more hours in the day for other things... Like sleep.

Do you sleep with your smart phone? While half of you finish chuckling, let me address the other half - because you're the ones nodding "yes". No need to feel sheepish, research shows that half of all smart phone users habitually check smart phones right before they turn in and first-thing when they rise - the vast majority of us connectivity junkies actually sleep with our phone under the covers. Talk about a turn on.

So, what's that say about us? (A.D.D. sidebar: Maybe we should develop some "apps for naps"? Backberry, anyone?). To me, it says that we're hooked on remote control access, 24/7. Smart phones have become our virtual umbilical cords. Interestingly, a robust 35% of phone owners admitted that, given a choice between their phone and their spouse, they'd send their spouse to the living room couch. That can’t be healthy. Does that mean that pillow talk has been replaced by pillow texting?

I used to be a big Macintosh computer fan. I still am, to some degree. But lately, I've been wrestling with the "new" philosophy of Apple. To me, they're different than the company I originally fell for. You see, I love the little guy - the individual/company that succeeds despite overwhelming odds. Remember the "1984" commercial? Apple used to be that company. They flew in the face of convention. It used to be that my friends made fun of me for using a Macintosh computer. I was seen as the rebel for refusing to use
"Windows" or whatever Microsoft platform happened to be in vogue. I like being a rebel.

Now, Apple is setting the standard - iPhones, iPods, iPads, iTunes, iAds, multiple apps - so popular and easy to use that they are influencing the flow and distribution of information on a grand scale. That's scary. When one company assumes that much control, they're no longer the "little guy". In the history of modern business and industry, almost every company that undergoes this transformation loses touch with the everyday user/consumer like you and me. Our voices are replaced by a corporate mandate for increased market share, stock prices and profit margin. This is where companies usually sell their soul. Recently, Steve Jobs responded to reception problems with the iPhone 4 by suggesting that users "hold it in a certain way" to improve reception. Uh, no. To their credit, Apple issued a
pseudo-apology by offering antenna insulation bumpers, free of charge, to eliminate the "dropped calls" problem. It's clear that Apple is quite pleased with our adoption of their tools. And who could blame them? To have an iDevice is to be on the cutting edge of communication. I just hope that Apple continues to recognize the little guy, continues to appeal to our rebel spirit and continues to offer devices that excite us with new experiences. 

Last night I bought a new ski coat online.  I’d been thinking about it for awhile and finally decided to pull the trigger before prices go backup due to demand. I typed in some key words to describe what I was looking for and ended up at a website I’d never heard of backcountry.com . The site was awesome.  I ended up on the page with the very coat I wanted so I didn’t have to search at all.  Next to the photo it told me exactly how many they had left in my size and even how many of those were in stock.

Before I buy something online I like to know how easy it will be to return it if it doesn’t fit, I don’t like it, etc. I easily found information about their incredible return policy and decided I would use their chat feature just to make sure there weren’t any caveats since my item was on sale. Even the chat feature was perfect. The opening message listed other URLs where I might find some other cools stuff(likely affiliated with back country in some way.)  Me: “Can I return this item if I don’t like it?”  Taylor M: “Absolutely.”  Me: “How much is it to return?” Taylor M: “$6.95 with our label, but you can ship on your own too if you want.”  It even offered an email or print option at the top of the window so I was able to keep a record of the conversation.  

As I filled out info about me for the purchase, the site also created a user account for me. Loved this!  Too often, websites either require you to develop a login before purchasing or they make the process so tedious that you regretfully don’t create a login and later have no access to info about your purchase.  The sight even assigned me a random password that I could change to something memorable if I wanted to. And just like that, I had been converted from a prospect to a sale.

Within minutes I received two emails from them. One saying “Get stoked most packages ship within 24 hours” The next “Your Gear is on its way.”I loved the personal touch on their email. I know the emails weren’t handwritten for me, but the fact that it didn’t just say “you order was received” and “your order was shipped” made me feel excited, like I’m waiting on a gift from a friend.

Kudos to backcountry.com for developing an intuitive site and for knowing your customer.  As long as my coat shows up you can count on a repeat purchases from me.  I’m certain it will.

I admit it. The first time I see a great commercial, I'm hooked. Like a heroin addict. I'm surfing YouTube, checking their website, even blogging about it. Case in point - the new Jeep Grand Cherokee spot. You know, the one sporting the copy that makes you proud to be American.

Goosebumps. Their tagline - "The things we make, make us". Brilliant. Sure, I'm a shameless commercial geek, but admit it, when that voiceover says: "This was once a country where people made things. Beautiful things..." that made your eyes sweat just a little, right? How about that music? Industrial, strong, invincible. Perfect. The first time I saw this spot, I turned to my wife and said: "We're getting a Jeep." Yeah, sucker, I know. This commercial is a great example of tapping into our national consciousness: America wants to be great again. We're tired of all the bad news. Let's get back to doing what we do best - lead. I want to make things. I want a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Is the iPad for me? I'm not so sure. I try to imagine using it, enjoying it... but I can't.  For me it would be duplicating functionality and the only reason to buy one would be... well, again, I'm not sure.
 
At home my MacBook Pro is rarely more than a room away, and my new iPhone 4 is always within an arm’s reach. My iMac sits idly by, patiently waiting for me to fire up Photoshop. At work I have a beast of a MacPro begging for abuse.
 
Obviously I have an affinity for Apple awesomeness, and I'm looking for a reason, ANY reason to justify the purchase of an iPad, BUT I CANT FIND ONE!
 
Put it this way - My iPhone has more RAM and therefore runs apps much smoother and faster than the iPad. It's easier to type on the iPhone keyboard (in landscape view) and doubly so on a traditional keyboard. The iPhone 4, MacBook Pro, and iMac each have a forward-facing camera. iPad is sans camera. The iPad requires a data plan to use 3G, which I already pay for with the iPhone 4. The screen on the iPad looks like the screen of an iPhone 3G in terms of crispness and vibrancy. It can’t compete with my iPhone 4. And I haven't even touched on web browsing, video streaming, or voice communication - all of which the MacBook, iMac and, MacPro do much better.
 
WHATS UP iPAD?!
 
If you are someone who is just getting into this kind of tech or if you simply like shiny new toys, then by all means, snatch up a pretty new iPad. But, if your situation is more like mine, then the only answer to the question "Should I buy an iPad?" becomes "WHY?"
 
Apple, I love you, man. But to me your iPad is more like Zack Morris's cell phone.

There’s never enough time, is there? So, it’s crucial how we spend it. Today, we’re told that information drives society. That we should use our time to consume information so we can be one step ahead, one degree wiser than our competitors. To do this, we need a system that delivers information at the speed of need. The digital realm offers this instant gratification, but it comes with a price. As fascinating as the internet and digital connectivity have become, they can also be a colossal waste of time and a bastion of inefficiency. How many times have you logged on for one purpose, but got sidetracked and spent precious tick-tocks chasing rabbit trails of “interesting information”? For a society that sees time as the most precious commodity, we do a poor job of spending it. While we proudly boast of our multi-tasking capabilities, we find it increasingly difficult to finish a task all the way through in a timely manner. Right now I have 3 programs open and 2 emails waiting for completion, waiting to be sent. You may use time more wisely than I, but we all fall into this trap. I guess the timeless lesson in this ever-increasing ADD culture is finish what you start.