The Best DAM Poster Contest

Keiser University Design and Multimedia students are competing for over $500.00 in prizes in The Best D.A.M. Poster contest. Please vote (like) and leave your feedback for these aspiring designers.

You must "like" Keiser University before you can vote on the individual entries.

Thank you for caring enough to help out our students.

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Motivation is in Full Throttle

So yesterday I was chatting with a former student who was pursuing another degree because she did not feel confident in her design skills. She had an opportunity to do some layout work for a local business but was about to let the opportunity pass because she was "afraid of looking stupid".

Here ia a transcript of the text string that transpired 18 hours later:

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"Just fyi... I gave him the first draft last night and he loves it. Said its the best anyone has ever done on the first draft and I haven’t even worked with him before. He has people that have been doing stuff for him for a while that don’t give him a first draft that is laid out so well. Made me excited.

I found my love for InDesign again. He is paying me $20/hr. Woohoo"

"Awesome!!!"

"YES I AGREE!

This was the test job... he said if I did a good job that he would continue sending me all his print work for me to setup. He sends me the text and pictures and I lay everything out in InDesign

Easy Money!"

"And I thought you gave up on design"

"Heck no. Just very self conscious. I am my worst critic."

"Aren't we all?"

"But he gave me a crud load of compliments and he said he really likes that I adapted to the style he asked me to. He asked me to use the cover he made for it and incorporate it somehow throughout the brochure and still give it a newish style but he loved it! YAY!

I AM SOOOOO EXCITED that I can work from home doing design work.

He was most excited that I beat the deadline ... he wanted something by this morning and I got him his first proof last night."

"So happy for you. Now will you enter the Festival of Design and finish this month's course?"

"Yes sir.

I am excited

Motivation is back in full throttle."

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Plenty of Work, if you're willing

Sometimes it's easier to quit than to make the effort. What amazes me is how many people quit without ever making an honest effort. If you want it, pursue it with everything you have...not for a few hours, or a few weeks, or a few months. Give it 100% of your effort, pursue it like it is the most important thing in your world. There are plenty of opportunities, just not enough people willing to work at making them into realities.

Finding what you want to know - useful links

The Web is full of information and beyond Google and general search sites there is a great amount of public information available if you only know where to look. So here are a few of my favorite searches. No its not stalking...its just properly researching.

1) Is the domain available: http://icdsoft.com/domain.php

2) Who owns the domain : http://www.alwhois.com (sometimes you might have to follow a link to another site (http://who.godaddy.com/whoischeck.aspx?Domain=domain_name_here) or you might need to run a “whois” search on the Name server listed.

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3) Find out who owns a Florida corporation, LLC’s, fictitious name,. etc.: http://www.sunbiz.org.

4) For Florida Professional Licenses and Vital Statistics: http://www.myflorida.com/taxonomy/floridian/licenses,%20permits%20&%20vital%20records/

5) To check out a broker or brokerage firm - FINRA Broker Search: http://www.finra.org/Investors/ToolsCalculators/BrokerCheck/

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6) Polk County (FL) Public Records Search : http://ori2.polk-county.net/wb_or1/default.asp

7) Polk County Property Search: http://www.polkpa.org/CamaDisplay.aspx

8) Polk County Jail Inquiry: http://www.polksheriff.org/inq/Pages/Jail.aspx

9) Polk County Active Warrant Search: http://www.polksheriff.org/FugitivesOffenders/Pages/WarrantsInquiry.aspx

10) Florida Sexual Predators: http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/homepage.do

11) Electronic Access to Federal Court Cases : http://www.pacer.gov/

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12) Lakeland (FL) Chamber of Commerce Member Directory: http://www.lakelandchamber.com/PreferredBusinessDirectory/tabid/54/Default.aspx

13) Imperial Polk Advertising Federation Member Directory: http://www.polkadfed.com/members.asp

14) The Congressional Record : http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/d_three_sections_with_teasers/congrecord.htm

15) Southern Association of Colleges and Schools – Commission on Colleges, Colleges that are SACS accredited, level of accreditation, public sanctions…: http://sacscoc.org/searchResults.asp

Experience

Lakeland Club for Models and Photographers

Last year, I joined a group on Meetup.com called Central Florida Models and Photography. It is a group of amateur and professional models, make-up artists and Photographers who get together and do some pretty cool photo shoots. It gives the Photographers a chance to work with local talent and it give local models and make-up artists lots of new shots for their portfolios. The only problems with the group are 1) most of the shoots are 1-2 hours away and 2) the group has become so popular the shoots (limited to 40) often fill up before you have a chance to be included.

I have seen several other photography groups ranging from Nature photography to Nude Photography, but most of them are either in Tampa/Clearwater or in Orlando. There just doesn't seem to be a good Polk County alternative.

After talking to Kerri and a few students, we realized we could continue waiting for someone else to give us what we wanted, or we could go ahead and created a Lakeland Photography and Models club that met our needs. So last week, we created The Lakeland Shooters. It is a club open to both professional and amateurs who have an interest in learning more and interacting with others who share their passion.

10 Books for Graphic Designers

Each year I have the privilege of evaluating close to a hundred design and software books. Many are good and several are outstanding. Here are a few of those.

	Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies
	Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace
	Pantone's Guide to Communicating With Color
	Robin Williams Design Workshop
	Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition
	A Smile in the Mind
	Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type
	Forms, Folds and Sizes: All the Details Graphic Designers Need to Know but Can Never Find
	Talent Is Not Enough: Business Secrets For Designers
	No Plastic Sleeves: The Complete Portfolio Guide for Photographers and Designers

For tutorials - check out AGAINST THE CLOCK. I love these project-based books for getting up to speed on new software.