Crown Point Design Blog » Design

Photo Shoot From A Helicopter

CPDScott — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:11:33 +0000

About a month ago I got the opportunity to do a photo shoot from a helicopter over San Diego – up and down the coast line of La Jolla, over the skyline of San Diego, and the Harbor. One of the koolest photo shoots I have done. I can only imagine how amazing it would be to shoot the New York City skyline from a helicopter as seen in the video.

At CPD we always stress the importance of professional photography in website design and corporate print collateral. While designing for your target audience, websites and marketing material should contain professional images that are unique and creative. Skyline photography is certainly one of many ways of fulfilling this need.

This post was originally found on Vincent Laforet’s Blog who provides a great video of his experience as a photographer and aerial images.

A Must Watch Wall Animation Video

CPDScott — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:47:49 +0000

Produced by BLU (who also has a very kool website design – www.blublu.org) The video is called BIG BANG BIG BOOM and is “an unscientific point of view on the beginning and evolution of life … and how it could probably end“.

This video shows how design can tell a story… Spend 10 mins of your lunch break watching it in its entirety.

All Designers Should be NAPP Members

CPDScott — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 00:46:50 +0000

CPD is proud to be a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). There are many benefits to joining NAPP including being part of the large member community that ranges from beginners to professionals. The association is a great fit for Photographers, but also provides value for graphic designers and website designers due to the large range of tutorials and resources that are available online.

Membership fees are $99 for 1-year or $179 for a 2-year membership. Included in your NAPP membership is a subscription to Photoshop user Magazine. This monthly magazine provides great ideas for design as well as industry related news. There are also hundreds of online tutorials that can be accessed after logging in as a member.

Also included in the membership are discounts to many industry related products including computer software, hardware, and events. This alone makes up for the annual membership fee.

Members of NAPP had the opportunity this past spring of demoing Adobe Photoshop CS5 prior to the official release. This is yet another benefit of joining this national association.

If you are serious about photography or design, this is an association that you should be connected with. For more information, visit the NAPP Website.

Can You Identify These Logos?

CPDScott — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:54:19 +0000

Logos are an important piece of branding and whether you know it or not, the top companies in the world all have identifiable logos and brands. Here is a great quiz to test your ability to name the below logos. Each of the companies listed below has worked to establish a recognizable corporate brand.

Play Corporate Logos Trivia Game

The Transformation of the Batman Logo

CPDScott — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:30:24 +0000

Batman is one of everyone’s favorite super heroes from comic books, cartoons, and the big screen. Just as his custom, Batmobile, and villains have changed over the course of various remakes, so has his logo. As designers, we always stress the importance of a recognizable brand and logo. It is interesting that as you watch the video of the transforming Batman logo, you realize that the entire time you are been able to identify it.

For more information on designing a logo that will help your company develop a recognizable brand, contact CPD.

Documentary on the Lost Art of Building Advertising

CPDScott — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 19:39:44 +0000

As new technologies emerge, older advertising methods begin to become obsolete. Direct mailing and print advertising has lost ground to email marketing and online advertising. In the print industry, traditional hand painted advertisements as seen in this documentary Up There, have been taken over by vinyl graphics that can easily be produced and implemented at a fraction of the cost. But as this documentary will demonstrate, there is still a movement of old-school artists that are keeping alive what was once a booming industry and clearly their passion.

CPD Launches New Website

CPDScott — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:43:34 +0000

June 8, 2010 – San Diego, CA – Crown Point Design (CPD) is happy to announce the launch of their new website – www.crownpointdesigns.com. The design is intended to provide information on our services including website design, internet marketing, corporate branding, web hosting, logo design, SEO, email marketing, and more. An extensive client portfolio showcases some recent website projects.

A large effort in the new design is to demonstrate how to tie together social media with corporate branding. We provide links to the CPD Facebook Fan Page, YouTube channel, Blog, and Twitter throughout the site in an organized way. The site also serves as a great example for user experience. Through several rounds of user testing, we centered the design around simplicity, organization, and design modern design components.

We are very excited about the new launch and hope to hear from you all soon about your design and marketing needs!

www.crownpointdesigns.com

3 Important Questions Before Designing A Website

CPDScott — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:36:33 +0000

There are many things to think about before designing a new website. This short video by CPD Designer, Scott Farquharson, addresses three main areas that need to be defined before diving into the design process. Answering these three topics will make the design process a lot easier when it comes to design, navigation, page layout, content, etc.

Identifying a target market
Defining a purpose for the website
Setting some realistic goals for the website

Adobe CS5 For Website Designers

CPDScott — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 07:13:54 +0000

Today was the release of the highly anticipated Creative Suite 5 by Adobe Systems. Adobe has provided a lot of great tutorials outlining the changes that are included in the new release. Below is a video tutorial that talks about some of the changes for Web Premium.

The changes that I am very excited about include the following:

1) Dreamweaver Integrated Content Management System (CMS) support

2) Direct Integration with BrowserLabs to check compatibility

3) Adding 3D Extrusions with PhotoShop to your web layout.

4) Content Distribution onto platforms like AIR and the IPhone

5) Server side display of all multiple platforms within Dreamweaver

To learn more visit www.Adobe.com.

CPD Product Review: SnagIt

CPDScott — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:19:56 +0000

Design application SnagIt is a great video capturing application that can be used for graphic and web designers. The tool has a lot of functionality and is very user friendly. Goto TechSmith.com to download a free trial and use it yourself!