​What is RGB and why does it matter? Why is there a big blank spot on your site where you uploaded that TIF image? In this episode, we’ll do a deep dive into color spaces and look at how our image formats are influenced by our eyeballs, LED displays and even the sun itself. I’ll also provide some easy examples of what to use where and tips for getting the best results. 

Have you ever been perplexed by watching a photo on your website s-l-o-w-l-y fill in line by line taking forever? Or have you printed out something only to find that the images came out looking jagged or blurry? If yes, then an understanding of balancing file size and quality will help ... let’s learn about file sizes! In this one minute episode, I'll explain what is best where and show you some examples. 

Content marketing is a fancy term for promoting yourself online by offering useful material. It's successful because it works on the power of attraction instead of distraction. In the same way we skip commercials, it's easy to tune out cheesy stuff online. Instead, we want to put out appealing, relevant content. Simple! Or is it? Do you have a hard time seeing your business through the eyes of an outsider? What may be an everyday, mundane thing to you (ho hum, here I am meeting with the wine rep again) might be wonderfully exotic to a new client (the handsome Italian wine rep - are you kidding me?!). With the goal of harvesting cool content for your social media marketing, here are 15 social media ideas that come out of the everyday things you probably already do. 

In the aftermath of Facebook's mind boggling privacy breach revelations I've had a few concerned calls about using social media. While it is scary that companies like Cambridge Analytica were able to purchase data and quite possibly influence political elections in several countries, those bad actors should not be allowed to overshadow the positive aspects of social media. Like me, many of my friends use Facebook to keep up with friends and family. Many of my clients use Facebook to help new clients find them, to share valuable resources and connect to colleagues and industry associations. Many nonprofits and popular movements use Facebook - and social media in general - to fundraise and organize. But like all media, it is important to consume it with a critical mind. Who benefits from this or that story? What agenda is being served? So, assuming that we as users can think critically about our usage and that the good outweighs the bad, here are some simple ways to make your use of Facebook more useful and secure. 

I love Twitter's new profile template for the same reasons I liked Facebook's graphical overhaul awhile back. As a designer it gives me a gorgeous, HUGE canvas to work with in promoting ideas, products, concepts, calls to action, etc. However, I'm also shocked and amazed that Twitter has so brazenly emulated Facebook. Shocked I say! Really Twitter, you couldn't come up with something better?
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In my mind the two services are dramatically different. While both have their pros and cons, Twitter can soundly be equated with democracy, scientific advancements and nothing less than revolution itself. Facebook, on the other hand, has an undeniable association with lots of problematic, unintended social consequences. Both are very valuable for marketing but I just believe that Twitter is superior for one main reason - it is primarily about ideas. Who knows what Facebook is primarily about. I'm not sure it's escaped it's origin as a "Hot or Not" web app. So, why would Twitter be emulating Facebook?

Timeline is a big change that was made in mid-2012 to the way that Facebook displays user generated content. It offers information in a chronologically compact way and gives designers and developers new control over how pages look. While it IS still Facebook, and therefore limited to Facebook's very specific functionality, it does represent a quantum leap forward that's very beneficial for small businesses and nonprofits. ​For more info about using Facebook for business, see my Facebook for Business page. 

Facebook has rolled out it's new Timeline layout and it's a quantum leap forward for organizations using Facebook for promotion. It gives us a big graphical area for clever branding as well as enhanced ways to attract and interact with the people we are here to serve. Here are some of the highlights: