Marketing and self promotion today is pretty straight forward. Think about what you do in your everyday life when its time to make an informed decision. Personally if I want to find the best deal on computer hardware, I do a Google Search. If I need a plumber or painter, I ask friends for recommendations and I still do a Google Search on the people they suggest.

I then go to their website and try to find information on their services, rates and what people are saying about them.

This is how most people qualify their buying decisions in the technology age. And hiring and investing in you “is a buying decision” and you need to think of it that way to market yourself effectively in 2012.

An online presence of your own, as well as being visible in Search, Local Search, Review Sites, and Social Media, are all an essential part of success for businesses going forward. Today’s consumer is more savvy and more connected than ever before.

9 Ways to Market Yourself in 2012

1.  Be accessible: Website, Email, Skype, Mobile.
   Your customers and clients need to be able to reach and touch you! They need to be able to have that feel that you are literally only a click away. If you can make yourself easier to reach, they have less trouble to go through to give you their business.
2.  Be searchable: Can I find you in Google, Bing, Yahoo?
   Most people today like to make informed buying decisions. They also believe that any business worthwhile knows that they are searching
3.  Be Social and Socialable:
   Are you on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter? Are People saying good things about you? Who do you know? Who have you Worked with?
4.  Show Your Work, Your Best Work, Everywhere and Often:
   Seeing is believing, show me results! Make sure your best work is available to be seen in every possible way and talk about it.
5.  A Face I Can Trust:
   Use real, flattering, current pictures online, even a video introduction to who you are and what you do! If at all possible have the head shot done by an ameteure photographer or photography student, using a tripod and good lighting. For video do all video with a tripod in decent lighting in a quite environment, like a conference room in the library, or a home office.
6.  Always be ready for success. Be ready to present 100% of the time:
   Business cards, info and pictures of your work on your mobile phone. Be ready to direct people to your website, easy to remember email addresses. I keep a presentation on my smart phone all the time for a REAL ELEVATOR PITCH IN AN ELEVATOR.
7.  Offer yourself as a solution to a series of problems:
   Communicate your understanding of certain problems, and how your skills, knowledge or resources can resolved those problems. This is the core of your marketing message. Don’t sell yourself as just another vendor or contractor, become your clients “partner”.
8.  Define yourself as an Expert:
   Credibility is everything. By being vocal in some online format and draw attention to yourself and your knowledge of your industry, even from people that may be more prominent than yourself. This can show clients that they can trust your information and rely on it.
9.  Constantly build your Network:
   Networking may be one of the most important and overlooked facets of good marketing. Increasing your number of valuable contacts and becoming as useful to them and generous with your time as possible, they will do your marketing for you and bring you new business.

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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With all the all of the buzz this past week surrounding Apple’s latest iPhone, one can only recognize how much mobile is dominating our attention and our spending right now. Several major players have attempted to expand into this territory, and many who you would think could ultimately succeed have in fact failed. But the thought, and more importantly the investment was there.

Designers need to invest in the future of this market as well. The need for print designer’s continues to shrink with every new devices that is capable of enabling media and ad delivery. A huge shift to digital media buying has been taking place for the past 5 years and show’s no sign of slowing.

Here are the main reasons as a Designer you should make the shift over to mobile design as soon as possible.

1) Mobile Design is Not That Hard
Contrary to what you have been lead to believe, designing for mobile is not hard at all. Programming and developing for mobile is a horse of another color, but if you’ve been doing Photoshop mockups of sites already or simple front end web design coding, this won’t be difficult for you at all. If you have Adobe Dreamweaver CS5.5 its easier than ever and there are several tools including Jquery that can make you look like a master.

2) You Can Finally Have an Edge
In a somewhat saturated market of designers and digital artist, having a unique selling position or an edge is really hard. Almost all of us know the same applications have decent hardware and the same bag of tricks now-a-days, and your “style” may not be enough to cut it. Many designers can now do web design as well so its not as unique of an edge as it was 10 years ago to be able to design across both print and web/digital. But…if you can design for mobile devices and can present work on them that looks amazing and works well with the small screen, you become a commodity!

3) There is a Demand for Mobile Design
With all of the mobile apps being developed daily in an attempt to be the next angry birds. There is a huge need for app developers to work with designers and artist. Beyond that many sites are having to transition to building separate mobile sites in order not to loose customers that want to use their site in that way, such as retailers and online stores. There is a high demand and far fewer players in this market than in traditional web design or even print design. Making an impact and a name for yourself as far as the Mobile Design niche is actually relatively easy right now.

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjgbishbMSk

In this video I talk about what Graphic Design is in 2011 and how the industry has changed and grown over the years. I cover everything from new careers, expectations, changes in software and hardware and more.

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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Roberto Blake TRON Legacy Text Effect

I’ve seen many different typography effects on the web, and one of my favorites is always when I see one from the movie TRON Legacy. Today I decided to share my own text effect and the assets for it, FREE!

In the links below I’ve setup the PSD file I used to create the image you see above, and a direct link to the Layer Style effects so you can use them in your own work any time you like. The effects actually work on shapes as well as type and I may do a tutorial in the future showing you how to use this effect on a person.

FREE TRON LEGACY TEXT EFFECT PSD FILE
FREE TRON LEGACY LAYER STYLE ASL FILE 

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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First of all these are some wonderful improvements to Creative Suite CS5.5  Like the ability to develop mobile applications using Dreamweaver along with the Phone Gap Open Framework and the new EPub enhancements to InDesign. Unfortunately there isn’t anything major for Photoshop in this Release.

Second we should have gotten these to begin with, but okay its great that they are offering them now. Better late than never, and I understand that in a lot of these cases they are finally answer feature request of the community. Kudos for that.

Third, why should we have to pay for these improvements, considering what we already pay/paid for these products?
Adobe products are wonderful, I love them, but they are very expensive and you have to upgrade every year and a half to 2 yeas to be current and have all the best features.

That is enough, but in the current economy what would have been the smart move would be to improve the brand and the loyalty of Adobe customers by offering these features as a simple update. I’d rather pay an extra $600 right now, this instant to be “Grandfathered” in to the next 3-4 Versions of the software I’ve already bought, especially if we’re talking “mid-release upgrades”.
Added to which anyone who recently bought or upgraded to CS5 is made to feel like a fool for not waiting a month or 2 to buy 5.5
On the other hand no one can really compete with their products. They are the standard across multiple industries and even if someone else comes along, they have established themselves so well that no one could endure the years it would take to convert a significant amount of the market.
I would love to say that unless I get more demand for EPub I will be waiting until CS6 and in the meantime I am not supporting the update to 5.5 because I  feel it is unfair and borders on price gouging.

However I moving more and more into learning mobile development and have several personal Epub projects I will be launching over the next 2 years, so I may find that I have little choice in the matter if I can improve my productivity and end result. Many of you will find yourselves in the same boat I’m afraid.

I love Adobe, don’t get me wrong. But I fundamentally disagree with what they are doing to customers who spend more than enough money with them as it is, the obvious exception here being if they “GrandFather” in users who purchased products withing the last 3 months, into CS.5.5 or if you absolutely need the new features for Mobile Development and EPub.

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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No matter what level you’ve reached in your career or journey as a designer, there is always room for improvement! Today I’m going to cover a few ways you can improve your design skills and reach your next level.

Design Magazines
Magazines like Advanced Photoshop, Photoshop Creative and Digital Arts are great resources. Not only do they have great and easy to follow tutorials to help you improve your skill, learn new techniques, but they also provide you with some free resources like stock photos, textures and brushes. Added to this they also have articles that give you some insight into what is going on in the industry.

Hit the Books
Books are a great way to learn or brush up on the fundamentals, or even learn how to use a new piece of software. I highly recommend the SAM’s Teach Yourself in 24 Hours books, as well as the Adobe Classroom in a Book series. One of my own personal favorites though is Scott Kelby’s Photoshop for Digital Photographers. Since I’m big on photography, retouching and photo manipulation I consider this book essential.

Become an Apprentice
The downside to a design education is you’re likely to have a professor that hasn’t worked directly in the field for 5 or more years… in an industry with standards and technology that change nearly every year and even sometimes every few months.  Becoming the apprentice of someone actively working the field today, and every day has many benefits. In particular you are learning “exactly” what you need to know, and what is relevant because these projects are live and for real clients, not theoretical or based on standards, techniques or technology from years ago, or from a perspective that isn’t relevant to your part of the industry.

Go to Design School
Despite what I just said, there are reasons to go to design school (don’t forget that I did this too!) , one the main reason being you will learn the fundamentals and get advice from people with at least a decade or two of experience. Don’t get stuck on the fact that some of their information may or may not be dated, there are plenty of things that were true 100 years ago that still hold water today, so be mindful, ask questions and be sure to get your money’s worth out of your professors. Also make sure you take advantage of the fact you may have access to software equipment you wouldn’t have otherwise. Spend as much time as you can in the computer lab if that is the case.

Online Tutorial and Blogs
The internet is great, there are a ton of free resources out their just waiting for you. DesignJuices, SmashingMagazine, PSDTUS, and Fuel Your Creativity, are just a small sampling of some of the best resources out their for tutorials, stock images and even give aways that any designer would be lucky to have. But you don’t need luck, just sit down take your time and use these sites to help improve your skills.  Don’t forget my own blog is here for you too!

Youtube Videos
Sometimes the quickest way we can learn something is by seeing done. If you don’t have a designer on call that you watch do something clever, no worries, that why we have Youtube! If I don’t know something I can find a no nonsense video that will show me how to get it done. There are countless youtube channels dedicated to tutorial and demonstrations of Photoshop and all the other design programs, with nearly every technique under the sun.

http://youtu.be/OzBjQmcdGDs

Experiment with Design and Art!
Don’t just play it by the books, dive right in and just try something new and see what happens. Some the greatest creations in exist were mere accidents, so don’t be afraid to have one! Enjoy seeing just what you can do without following the rules exactly or try deviating halfway through a tutorial or even combine things you’ve learn or seen elsewhere. If somethings starts working out, don’t over think it, just go with it.

I hope these tips were helpful to most of you, if you are designer and have any other advice for the rest of us, feel free to speak up in the comments.

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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Force of Nature is a fairly simple image to create but uses several techniques in combination to accomplish something clean and visually dynamic.

Final Image

Force of Nature by Roberto Blake

Stock Photography

Dancer

http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-6310456-the-dancer.php

Cracked Texture

http://freestocktextures.com/texture/id/570

Skills Required:
Selection/Masking
Blending/Layer Effects
Dodge and Burn

STEP 1 Complex Selection.
To assuming you don’t have the new refine tools of the latest Photoshop (CS5) to help you, you’ll need to use the Select>Color Range option in the menu to help you make accurately select and mask things like hair on this model.Before you start, be sure to duplicate you original layer as you will still need it. I labeled mine “BASE”.

Once you’ve done that you can easily select and mask the rest of the model using the Pen Tool or the Quick Select tool.

STEP 2 Creating the Ghost Effect.

Once you’ve created your mask on the “BASE” layer create 2 more duplicate layers, named “GHOST” and “DODGE N BURN”. Be sure that the “DODGE N BURN” layer sits directly above the “GHOST” layer. For now toggle the “DODGE N BURN” layer to invisible.

Convert your “GHOST” layer to black and white with whatever settings look good to you. Change the Blend Mode to Hard Light. Shift the image up and away slightly from the model to create the ghost effect (I went up and to the left). Next Click on your Right Click on your Layer Mask, and Apply Layer Mask. Next create a new layer mask and using a black and white Gradient Tool apply a directional fade away effect to your ghost. Covert the layer to a Smart Object.

Now you will see why we converted to a Smart Object. Goto Filter>Blur>Motion Blur and apply what settings look good to you, don’t worry because you are using a Smart Filter on a Smart Object, you can change them if you like.

STEP 3 Dodge and Burn

Toggle your “DODGE N BURN” layer back to being visible, It should still be in place over your “BASE” layer. Using the Dodge and Burn tools, enchance you image and give it some depth.

STEP 4 Cracked Floor

Get a cracked floor texture, several of them are avaialbe for free or come in sets. If it is not already black and white convert it now. Change the Blend Mode to Overlay and about 60%. Now create a Guide where the floor begins and move your cracked floor into place and the create the proper perspective by using the distort tool.

STEP 5 Simple Flares

By now most of you have various techniques for creating flares, in this image I used one that was very simple. On a new layer I used a soft Brush at about 50% Opactity and then when back over it with a larger brush then added and outer glow effect.

STEP 6 More effects and finshing

You’ve completed the basic image at this point but if you want you can add other effects as I have such as the light streaks or the grunge splashes from the jeans. I personally also added some more Doge and Burn to the original layer’s background to create more contrast.

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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OASIS is something I came up with while looking at an old piece of work “Star Girl I”. I realized since working on that image that my skills have progressed a great deal and wanted to see what I could do with that stock image today, and that is how I made my start on this project.

OASIS Moonchild by Roberto Blake

Photo Manipulation and effects are the area of graphic design that I enjoy the most. I love taking images and bringing them together in new and interesting ways to make something wholly different. For this I wanted to creating something stunning and dramatic that had an organic feel to it. I also still wanted to use lighting effects in this image, but something more than typical streaks and swirls.

The end result was something beautiful that I feel is also unique.

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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In my time I’ve had the opportunity to work with many creative and talented people. Whether they have been models, musicians or dancers, each of these people has been unique and inspiring. One of the greatest talents I’ve had the pleasure of working with is Sir Ben Marx (Marc Benjamin).

Ben and I met sometime ago when he had first began to make his start as a musician, performing at local venues. We met through a mutual friend, a photographer I worked with in the past, Jon Covington. In this article I’ve posted the latest artwork I’m doing for some up and coming promotional material for Ben (posters/flyers). I will be sure to add to this as time goes on and the final material is produced. I just couldn’t wait to share some of this with you. Be sure to visit Ben’s site SBXTV.com

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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First introduce yourself for the readers who don’t know you!

Melody of SexiDesign.com

Why hello to all you sexy readers out there, my name is Melody Nieves (nee evv ess) and I’m originally from Long Island, NY. I am the flirty and eccentric author to two design and marketing sites, MelodyNieves.com–my personal blog, and SexiDesign, which covers the influence of sex in marketing and design. I consider myself an artist first and foremost, but it was when I joined a financial services company at 18 that I developed my second love for marketing.  I majored in architecture for a year in Philadelphia but moved onto opportunities with that company. From there I would experience really unpredictable and diverse experiences as a young business person.
What made you decide to be a designer and how did you get into this field?

[Forgive me for my long story LOL] Well I started learning about design back when I was 12 years old. There were early blog-like sites back then that teens designed with Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro that I had a fascination for. Since I was always into art I started to learn about web design, but lost computer access about 2 years after. It wouldn’t be until I got to college in 06 that I started messing with PS again. I’ve really just gotten back into design because of my diverse experiences from the last couple of years and decided in the past year that I would take a break and try to pursue life as a digital artist and design blogger.

Tell us about the blog “A Walk In My Shoes” and how that got started?

AWalkInMyShoes.com was the journey of my crazy business life as well as my advice with a real personal touch. Here’s how it really started: When I left college I landed an opportunity to work for a startup financial services company via a video resume I sent to its CEO. I would go on to work as a marketing trainee/coordinator/designer/everything you could possibly think of for that company. Because of my initial interest in the company’s investment products as well as my hard work, I moved on to create my own subsidiary company in partnership with my former boss. Incentivest, Inc. launched in early June 08′ when I was only 19 years old, in pursuit of “Financial Therapy.” AWIMS was originally my blog for Incentivest, in recognition of my “confessions as a young entrepreneur.” However, 6 months after it’s launch, I decided to dissolve Incentivest. I maintained AWIMS as a look into my journey, but now as a digital artist and marketing enthusiast. Most recently I’ve sold the domain for AWIMS, and transferred the site to my new domain of MelodyNieves.com.

You’ve mentioned that you are an entrepreneur, can you tell us about some the success you’ve had, and how you went about it?

I owned my first company at 18 (Incentivest, Inc.) as mentioned previously. Prior to that, my work led to little personal successes like having articles written about the company I worked for as well as my own. When I got into digital art, soon after I won a trip to the Playboy Mansion via a tshirt design contest. I also have a print & tshirt line through zazzle.com. Also, the recent sale of my AWIMS domain is by far the biggest business deal I’ve encountered so far online. But I must say that my biggest success is that I continue to learn from all the good times, battles, and mistakes I’ve made.

Tell us what’s so sexy about SexiDesign.com?

SexiDesign is so (damn) sexy because it is unlike any other design and marketing site around. Here, I have a no holds barred approach to the wide array of topics that I write about. The purpose of the site is to educate its readers on how prevalent sex is in design, and specifically which marketing techniques are utilized to learn from. The site has also become an outlet for beautiful sexy artwork and I can’t wait to really get into the discussion I have in store for it.

It’s funny, SD is actually spawn from originally wanting to write about porn site designs, but thinking how it would be so randomly racy for the AWIMS blog. =P

What would you say has been the greatest difficulty you’ve encountered as a designer?

Dealing with clients can irk me like the next designer. The lack of appreciation for a designer’s work is probably what will make me crossover more into a design blogger and less of a designer.

Can you tell us about any special skills you’ve had to develop outside of design?

Well I love to write so blogging has helped that tons. I have really strong interests in body language, NLP, and anything related. I do believe though that marketing is my calling and I find myself becoming more intuitive to campaigns each day.

What is your favorite piece of artwork that you’ve produced?

My favorite piece is Clouded Vision–the revised digital version. I originally painted it when I was 15, but when I got back into PS I fell in love with digital painting. The revised version was a personal breakthrough of finally beginning to understand all my years of training and trial and error as an artist. I think many artists overly critique their own works like myself, so it was nice to step back and actually admire my own work.

Who are some of your favorite Designers and Artist, and some of your favorite work from them?

I don’t think I have a favorite designer. However, my favorite artist is Frida Kahlo. I grew up learning about her life and artwork, and finally saw her exhibit in Philly. My favorite piece of hers is “Unos Cuantos Piquetitos” (A Few Small Nips). You might think I’m crazy when you see it (lol) but I view it as a look into her disturbed character and a reflection of the hardships she endured throughout her life. Plus she gave meaning and purpose to every component of her art, so I find that fascinating.

How do you feel about the current state of the Design Industry?

I think there is a difference between the design industry as a whole and the online design industry. The online design industry is currently unable to branch off from design unrelated to graphics design, web design, etc. Aside from the list posts many have grown to despise, there aren’t really sites out there to explore the other design industries in depth such as architecture, interior design, product design etc. Eventually those voids will be filled, but it’s a perspective that is lacking, and that’s probably do to the fact that no one can just become a freelance architect overnight via online tutorials. As a result, I think the online design industry is a little stagnant at times.

Have you been effective by the recession at all?

Absolutely. I lost my original business mostly due to my concerns with the recession. I’ve also had to downsize and really take a look into my goals for the future. It’s not so much a big deal to live without some luxuries or gadgets, I just want to make sure that I’m confident in my future decisions.

What advice would you give to designers starting out this year?

If design is what you want to do for your career, don’t start off designing. Seriously. Make an effort to develop your craft and technique first. Design is easy for people to turn to because they think it’s easy–just pick up PS and mess with it a bit. No. It would seriously help yourself, your future clients, as well as the design industry to go out and learn something about it first.

What would you say are the most important skills for a designer to have?

My biggest pet peeve is when people have a poor foundation in the principles of design. You’ll probably see me pointing it out on many tutorial sites, but I know from experience how  enlightening it is to just begin to understand and properly utilize a design principle. So it’s important to get out, off your computer, and take a class. Again, in reference to advice for designers, if it’s something you really want to do you’re going to have to invest some real time and money into understanding design.

How has twitter changed your life?

Twitter has definitely made my site(s) more accessible to different readers. It’s also given me a wonderful avenue to get great feedback from people. Sometimes I wonder if people are nervous to comment on SexiDesign, but I get awesome feedback that helps me understand my potential impact on the blog world. On a side note, I met my boyfriend through twitter as well as some new friends. So it has made even an impact on my personal life.

If you had to do something else with your life, what would it be and why?

Eventually I will be doing something different. Design and art in general will always be a part of my life, but I choose not to remain a designer for long. I grew up introverted so I always wanted a career that would force me to persevere beyond that, and being in the cut throat financial industry helped a lot.  In many ways, I feel like if I stay a designer then I will stay indoors, very introverted. So I want a career in marketing, PR, or some form of motivational speaking.

What are some of your plans for the future?

I definitely plan on embodying the lessons of SexiDesign. I know its potential and I think it’s important for fellow designers to hear a new, even sexy, perspective towards design. I’m sure I’ll own marketing related businesses in the future but as unpredictable as my life has been–I’m just taking it one day at a time. I’m 21 now, so I want to get back to living life and enjoying the little things that really matter.

I’m really excited to have come across some influential people and opportunities, so I can only say for now to follow my journey. And perhaps with my journey I can reward my readers with some guidance and understanding. Thanks bunches for the interview Roberto!

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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Roberto Blake Featured in Photoshop Creative 60

Hey everyone, I”m really excited about this post. I was recently featured in another photoshop magazine. Photoshop Creative recently started a Reader’s Gallery section and was kind enough to include some of my artwork in issue 60 of the magazine, which you can find at pretty much any book store in the magazine section or oder from their website. I can’t tell you how happy I am about tall the wonderful exposure my art has been getting lately.

As creatives we always seek some level of validation from our peers and the people who inspire us. We also have a desire to share our work with as many people as possible. In this way seeing your work published in a major venue is a great boost to morale for any artist or designer. The pieces selected were some of my own personal favorites.

Roberto Blake- Photo Manipulation Energetic

Roberto Blake Photo Manipulation Touched

Roberto Blake Photo Manipulation Catch U If I Can

Roberto Blake Photo Manipulation Celestial Being

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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